Another Way
by Island Of the Ships
Summary: Ed uses alchemy in Drachma, and suddenly recieves a letter from somewhere called London. Harry Potter/Fullmetal Alchemist crossover. Manga Based. Somewhat HBP compliant. CHAPTER 20 UP!
1. The Newest Wizard

Another Way 

------

**If I owned Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter would I be writing fanficts? Seriously… The OCs are MINE though…**

_SPOILERS. Post chapter 73, pre anything else that might happen in the plot. If you haven't read to the Briggs arc, read at own risk. If there's a point of view, you'll notice._

--

--

**Chapter One: The Newest Wizard**

**July 24****th****, 2 weeks earlier**:

_Beep, beep._ "Another wizard born." Droned a ministry official.

"Okay, they listed for Hogwarts or another school, sir?" asked his assistant.

"They're up for Hogwarts like usual."

"Right sir. Name? Age? Parentage?"

"Hold on." _Shuffle shuffle _"Ahh, why do we still sort this in endless rolls of parchment? Muggles have their fancy toys, why don't we have some magical organizer?"

"_Accio Name pages"_ the assistant muttered quietly. The pieces of parchment flew to his hand. "I'll record it, sir." His superior nodded at him.

"Alright, newest wizard..." He pointed his wand at a quill, and it stood ready to write. "Name: Edward Elric. Parentage: Unknown…huh? That's weird. No don't write that stupid!!" cried the frustrated wizard, throwing a potions flask at the quill which was now starting to vibrate, making scribbles appear over the sheet.

"Bodkins! Stop this nonsense at once! You're lucky I put an unbreakable charm on that, otherwise you would've melted a hole through the floor."

"Sorry sir. What was in it anyways?"

"Does it matter? The Potions Department has been experimenting with Muggle – what's the word? – Acids, from Muggle Artifacts again. It's just one of their mess ups."

"Those fools are going blow up the Ministry one of these days-"

"Back to business, Bodkins. Now, our newest addition. Write this down. By hand."

"Yes sir."

"Name: Edward Elric, Whereabouts: changing-"

"Parents are travelers huh? That's no problem."

"Be quiet. Age: What the-?"

"What's wrong sir?" Asked Bodkins, looking over to his boss's shocked expression.

"This child-no this person-is almost 16, when they should be less than a month old!"

"Maybe we missed him earlier sir."

"No! He's on our Newest Wizards List. And this thing is worldwide!"

"Shall we put him down anyways sir?"

"Yes, yes. Hogwarts has had transfer students in the past. If he's done magic before, then he'll fit right in. Otherwise he'll simply receive supplementary lessons."

"Very good sir. Should I have Dumbledore send his owl?"

"Yes, yes immediately. His will have been sent 3 weeks later than the 1st years'. Send a train ticket to get to London, along with directions. We can have someone meet him there, and take him to buy his things. We'll put him in with the 6th years…."

--

--

--


	2. 3 Weeks Ago

_Yay! It's a new chapter!! And I still don't own anything!!! _

_Meh Hehez, I updated sooner than any of you thought, didn't I? Hehehe…._

_So I bet all of you are wondering, how did Ed's name get on the list? Well, this is what happened…._

--

--

**Chapter 2: 3 weeks ago…**

-----------

Briggs Border with Drachma 

"Shit." Thought Ed, running along the rocky path that eventually led into the neighboring country.

"Alphonse! Winry! Where are you?" he called, more of a distraction than anything else. Scar blasted through a rock, and came to stand beside him.

"Any sign of them?" asked the Ishvalan; on guard in case Ed was Envy is disguise.

"I last saw Kimbley going over the cliff with Miles. Envy was fighting Buccaneer and Ran Fan. I don't think he's gone into his true form yet. Al, Winry, and Mei Chan were with Marcoh. Have you seen them?"

"The Rockbell girl and your brother are safe. I saw Mei Chan and Marcoh start something. We need to worry about ourselves."

"Right." Replied Ed. _It's going to be bad if we have to head into Drachma. I heard General Armstrong say something about them monitoring alchemy use…but Al knows not to use alchemy, and Marcoh does too. Hopefully they're like Father and can't detect Mei's Rentanjutsu._

"What are you thinking?" asked Scar. Ed realized he had been lost in thought for a while.

"Lets keep going towards Drachma. If we actually do get inside the border, I'm going to try and avoid using alchemy, but if I have to I will. Al said something about Mei giving us a signal if he or Marcoh uses any."

"Once one of you uses it, we will be compromised." It was a statement not a question. The group knew that if they were exposed, their entire master plan could screw up.

"Yes."

"Then once one of you uses it, we should leave that country and come back. I shall tell Mei Chan." Scar replied after much thought.

Ed was about to ask what he mean't by telling Mei Chan, but then Scar alchemyed the ground and far away, next to Mei Chan's foot a chasm opened up. Marcoh being taller than the other two read off it: "_If Amestrian alchemy is used inside Drachma, signal us then flee to Amestris._ By us do you think Scar means him and Edward?"

Al nodded. He had a feeling those two had met up. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Winry whiten, and her head stiffened. He touched her shoulder.

"Don't worry Winry. Scar's on our side now. He won't hurt big brother."

She smiled up at him, but still looked frightened. Al wondered why the two of them wouldn't just admit they liked each other instead of denying it to everyone.

----------------

**One hour later.**

"Shit," repeated Ed. Envy was in his true form and advancing slowly. Scar was held up fighting Kimbley, and he could see Mei Chan's Daggers being used in the distance. He was in Drachma now, and martial arts could only get you so far. His arm had been transmuted into a blade beforehand, but it wasn't making much headway.

Suddenly Envy lunged at him, Ed jumped to avoid it, and cursing the situation, transmuted a huge dragon to bite down on Envy out of the surrounding stone. Envy was trapped because of his size, so he started shifting into his usual (smaller) form. Ed quickly sent up a giant statue of his head impaled on a pole, and started running back to Briggs.

-----------------

Al and Winry saw the impaled head.

"Typical. No subtlety at all." Sighed Winry, and began running back up to the hut they had taken shelter in. Al followed, grabbing Mei Chan. Marcoh caught up to them. They all knew Scar and Ed would go there, so they hurried along.

--

--

--

--

-----------

_Hehez, impaled heads…. they're going to come back, so be prepared…_

_Do not worry my little crossover disciples…people will start being pelted with owls and boarding trains soon enough…_

_Sorry about the shortness of these chapters. Believe me, once my other ones get uploaded, you will regret getting pissed at me for writing short chapters (I know you have, don't deny it!! I do it to, so tis okay!)._


	3. The Letter

_I still own neither HP nor FMA, but I __do__ own this story. By the way, in case you haven't noticed, this is based off the manga, and there are SPOILERS!!!_

--

-- 

--

**Chapter 3: The Letter**

--

**July 31****st****, Now.**

Ed awoke to the sound of tapping on the window. He sat up slowly, the last few weeks' events running through his head. A bunch of random crap had happened, and for this story's purposes, everything was about the same as before. Kimbley had been killed by Scar in the battle. Envy and Ling/Greed had pushed Buccaneer off a cliff. Miles had sent out several search parties, but so far there had been no luck. Ed and Al were bringing Dr. Marcoh, Scar and Mei Chan to meet Izumi in Dublith. Winry would get dropped off at Rush Valley on the way there. In Dublith they would learn Rentanjutsu from Mei Chan, and try to learn what the tattoos on Scar's arm meant.

----------------------------------

Ed swung his feet out of bed, a sharp rapping still going on his window. "I'm coming, I'm coming…" he muttered, trudging over, and swinging it open. Instead of Al or Winry, there was an owl. A barn owl. With a letter tied to its talons. _I must be dreaming_. Ed thought, jolted awake by the sight. The owl lifted its leg as if indicating he should take the letter. Ed untied the cord, and brought the owl out of the snow. Setting it by the remainder of last night's food, he surveyed the envelope in its hand. It read:

**To Mr. Edward Elric**

**Dublith, Amestris**

He flipped it over. There was an elegant crest of a shield divided into four parts with the word _**Hogwarts**_ above it in a formal looking type.

"What the hell?" He opened it, breaking the seal and pulling out the first piece of parchment he found. It read:

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster - Albus Dumbledore**

**Dear Mr. Elric,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. **

"What…the…fuck…" Ed breathed. Most people thought alchemy was magic but it really was just science. _With a few magical qualities_, he supposed, _but really just science…_

"Hey Al!! Winry!! Come here, quick!!" Ed yelled over his shoulder. They came running.

"What is it Big Brother?" Said Al, armor clanking.

"Yeah, Ed what's up? By the way, something was tapping on your wind-"

"I know. It was the owl."

"Owl?"

"Hey Big Brother, what's that letter?" Al asked reaching for the piece of parchment Ed still grasped. "Where did this come from?" Ed shrugged. "Hogwarts I guess. The owl brought it."

"Hogwarts? What's that?" Al grabbed the letter and read the first sentence aloud.

"Ed, what is this? Magic school?"

"Winry, I have no idea. I haven't finished reading it yet," said Ed, snatching the letter from Al, and reading the rest of it aloud.

**Inside there is a list of books and supplies you'll need.**

**Term begins September 1. As you will be transferring into our 6****th**** year instead of starting off fresh, please reply with this owl no later than August 7****th****, to let us know you are interested. If so, you and your family (or two-three others if they are unable) should take the enclosed train ticket up to London on August 20th. Someone should be there waiting for you, and will talk it over with you, and help you buy supplies. **

**Sincerely, **

**Minerva McGonagall**

**Deputy Headmistress.**

"Whoa, whoever wrote this is serious," Winry said, taken aback.

"Yeah, and that explains why Big Brother's owl is still here. It's probably waiting for his reply."

"Well we still have a few days before it's due." Ed remarked. "We leave for Rush Valley and Dublith today. Lets continue as planned, and ask Sensei about it once we get there. Her, you, and probably Winry should come with me when we go to this 'London' place."

"Wait, Ed," Winry started, "You're not seriously thinking about going are you? What about learning Rentan-whatever? What about getting back you guys' bodies?"

"Calm down Winry!!" Al cried. Winry realized her voice had risen to a yell. She muttered an apology as Ed put a hand on her shoulder; she relaxed, then stiffened after a wave of security made its way across her.

"Look, Winry, I know. And I just thought the same thing as you said that. But I think doing this would be the best thing. Besides" Ed said, skimming downward, "It says here students can come back for the winter holidays, so it should be okay."

Al raised his head understanding. "If I study Rentanjutsu here, while Big Brother learns 'magic' we might be able to find out a way to get back our bodies sooner. But I agree with Nee-san, that we should go to Izumi first, and that the three of us and her should go to this 'London' place."

Winry nodded. "Well let's head out then. Everyone else is ready to go, so lets go ahead and leave."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the train ride, Ed asked Marcoh and Mei if they had heard of Hogwarts. Marcoh shook his head, but Mei looked thoughtful. "It sounds familiar. I think one of our healers in training might have gotten a letter from a different school when she was abroad. She didn't go. There was too much work in my clan that she was needed for. The letter mentioned the Hogwarts place as an alternative though."

"Yeah, mine mentions two other schools in a footnote as well." Ed mentioned. "I think alchemy in Xing and Amestris doesn't show up in this 'London' place, so people only get the letter when they use alchemy in a different country."

Everyone stopped and pondered this. The rest of the train ride was filled with sleeping, staring out the window, and silence. Rush Valley came up, and Winry got off. She hugged Mei, Al, and Ed, and started walking off. Ed, after a brief epiphany, started running after her.

"Winry! Hey, Winry!" he called. Winry turned around slowly. Ed held up something small and shiny that he pulled out of his pocket. "You forgot your earrings," he said when he had caught up to her.

"Oh. Thanks Ed."

"No problem."

"See you when we go to London?"

"Yeah. See you then." The two embraced, then went their separate ways.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The remaining five pulled up in Dublith, holding their bags, with Marcoh toting the birdcage carrying the owl. They decided that it must have had orders not to leave until the 7th, as it made no attempt to escape.

They hiked up to Izumi's house, where she greeted the Elrics with a punch, and the rest with a stern look. They gathered around her dining table sitting slightly uncomfortably in the presence of the newcomers. Izumi broke the silence.

"So Ed. When you called, you mentioned something about a weird school and Rentanjutsu." Ed introduced Mei Chan and handed her the letter. Izumi read it.

And then burst out laughing. "This is some kind of joke right? This can't be real!"

"Dr. Marcoh has the owl, and here's the train tickets. Here's the list of supplies." Said Al.

Izumi was speechless for once. Then, pulling herself together she said, "Well, when are we leaving?" Everyone was taken aback.

"What?" Ed said. He had expected more ridicule than this.

"From what you told me over the phone, Al will stay here while he is taught Rentanjutsu by Mei, while me and Dr. Marcoh try to figure out the meaning of the tattoos on Scar's arm, yes?"

"Yeah, but-" Ed started.

"But what? Did you seriously think I would let you turn down the greatest piece of learning you could ever get your hands on? This combined with Rentanjutsu is the shortest route to getting your bodies back, so I want you to go for it. Now, obviously I will be coming with you as well as Al, and that Winry girl should probably come too. This station is in Drachma, so we'll need to head back up to the Briggs. My husband will keep the others safe. Any questions?"

She was met with silence. "All right, it's settled. We leave tomorrow. Al, help Ed pack. Dr. Marcoh, could you come talk to me for a minute please? And if Mei and Mister Scar could help my husband out with something that would be wonderful."

Her voice was friendly, but as her face clearly said 'do it or I kill you' no one argued. Ed proceeded to pack all his stuff he regularly took traveling, plus a few extra things that were suggested to him. While Ed packed, he told Al what to write, and they sent the owl with their reply. It read:

**People at Hogwarts,**

**I have decided to take you up on your offer and come to this London place to find out about your school. I will be bringing with me my brother, my sensei, and a close family friend. In case you don't already know this, here is what we look like. I have long blonde hair that's normally in a braid and my brother will be wearing a big suit of armor. **

**See you at the station,**

_Edward Elric_

--

--

--

--

_Tis decided, Ed is going to Hogwarts! _

_And for those of you who care, the reason I've been updating so fast is because so many people have been reviewing. So review, and be met with updates!!_


	4. Onward to London and REWARD! part 1

**Chapter 4: Onward to London and Reward!!!**

_**(Boom! boom! boom!)**__ - Inside joke. So's the title._

-------------------------

Al looked silently out the window. Rush Valley was shrinking in the distance, Winry had joined them, and they were now on their way back up to Briggs. He hazily wondered if anyone there would recognize Izumi after her training up there.

Ed sat across from him. Instead of admiring the view, he was surveying the people near him. Al, who he only ever spent a week at most away from; Winry, who he realized he loved; and his sensei who had always been a source of both terror and inspiration to him.

Ed had realized moments before that he wouldn't be seeing these people for half a year. Their only communication would be through mail or phone.

Al was his constant best friend/brother/companion his whole life. They had grown up together, trained together, survived together, traveled together, and resolved to get their bodies back together. Now they would be separated for half a year. Ed knew this was the fastest way towards getting their original bodies back, but was it worth it?

_Maybe I should just stay here and learn Rentanjutsu,_ Ed thought sadly. His thoughts were showing plainly on his face, so Winry grabbed his hand.

"It'll be okay Ed. We'll keep in touch often enough. It'll be like old times." _For me at least, anyways. I'm used to only talking to you every few months._ _For Al…It's something completely different…_thought Winry sadly.

However, Ed squeezed her hand and smiled before letting go, letting her know that she had made him feel better.

-----------------------------------------------

Upon arriving at the station to Briggs, Izumi put her hood over her head, muttering, "It's cold dammit…" halfheartedly. In truth, the sight had brought back bad memories, bad enough to make even **her** wary. Miles was waiting for them at the fort entrance.

"Good to see you again Elrics. And you Miss Rockbell,"

"Nice to see you too Major Miles. Any sign of Buccaneer yet?"

Miles shook his head sadly. "Not yet. Those bastards knew what they were doing that's for certain. We haven't found any sign of a body, and that's better news than we normally get." After a moment of quiet, Miles raised his head and asked, "But who is this?"

Izumi raised her head and said, "I am their teacher, Izumi Curtis. Nice to meet you."

A flash of brief recognition passed over Miles' face, but he said nothing, as the look in her eyes was the same as General Armstrong's when she has said _"If you have any doubts or anger, fight me now."_ It was just as scary, so he put his thoughts aside.

"I am Major Miles of Briggs. I heard the four of you need passage to a station in Drachma."

"Yes, we do. Edward received a strange invitation from a place called London. We are going to follow the senders up on their offer" Replied Izumi, being vague for a reason.

"Well, we know we can trust you, so as long as you don't say **anything** about our fort, or any other statements that could compromise us, then we shall grant you passage through."

Ed nodded. The phrase: _"we know we can trust you"_ had hit him, hard and he realized that he could trust anyone at Briggs. "We understand. When can we leave? Our train from Drachma leaves on the 19th, and it's the 17th now."

Miles waved over another soldier. Ed repeated his question.

"Well, if you stay the night here, we can get the job done better, but if you really need to leave today then-"

"Tomorrow is fine sir." Alphonse cut in. "We need rest anyways, so we might as well spend the night here."

The soldier nodded and hurried back to the fort. By time the four had gotten all pleasantries and hellos over with, they had two rooms emptied of junk, so they collapsed. The day was uneventful. After much talk with Miles about what they would do the following day, Izumi announced that they needed to sleep. Ed stayed up with Al and talked with him for a long time before Winry came in and reminded him, that since he was sleeping for both his own body **and** Al's, he should get some rest.

--

--

--

--

_The return of the evil short chapters!!! Yeah, I kinda drew a blank right here, sorry. Next chapter there will be some actual canon HP characters (at the end). And probably more inside jokes…_


	5. Onward to London and REWARD! part 2

**Chapter 5: Onward to London and Reward! Part 2**

**(Boom! Boom! Boom!) **

--

The next morning they got up nice and not very early, and after a cup of free coffee (the cheap-ass soldier was too scared of Izumi to charge them) they bundled up, and set out.

Miles was waiting for them at the main gate. They exchanged light greetings and were met with surprising news.

"The general wants to see you before you leave." Ed blinked in surprise.

"I thought she became part of the Führer's inner circle? Why is she here?"

"She came back last night to oversee the admission of the latest puppet from Central," Miles said sullenly. "They're to be her replacement, so the Führer asked that she show him around personally."

"I wonder why," Al said thoughtfully. "That doesn't seem very smart for him to do-"

"It's so the soldiers here don't undermine his authority," Izumi cut in, "If she pretends to treat him with respect, the rest will take the hint and do the same. She's trying to keep the order here as much as possible, so the place won't become another Loir."

The brothers saddened at the mention of Lior, knowing that it was partly their fault. Izumi put her hands on their shoulders.

"What happened there shouldn't happen here as long as the soldiers do not let Central totally take over." Miles nodded at this, and right about then, General Armstrong walked up.

"Hello Alphonse, Winry, Fullmetal shrimp. Who is this?"

Izumi lifted her head, staring directly into the eyes of the general. The two's gaze were locked for a second, and finally the staring match ended as Armstrong said "I see the shrimp was not wrong when he talked about you."

Izumi chuckled. "Shrimp…Nice, very nice. Now, seeing as we need to leave, can the stare downs wait? We have a train to catch."

The general straightened, "Yes, I know. That's what I wanted to talk about. Now, listen carefully," Ed and Al turned to face her.

"You not to under any circumstances say anything about our military, or our borders to anyone in London. Drachma knows of us, hopefully they do not. Regard anyone besides your contacts as an enemy, and even with them, do not trust them until they have earned it. If we get any sudden invasions, and you have not done something beforehand to warn us about it, I will tell any and all survivors to shoot you if you return without showing signs of torture. Got that?"

"Yes sir," said Ed, already knowing this.

"Then you get to where you need to be."

Miles saluted, and Ed hesitantly followed suit. General Armstrong turned and left. Izumi immediately burst into laughter. "Hahahaha!! She's just as I expected. Haha! Paranoid for a good reason, and overly firm! That's the most even contest I've had with a human in my entire life. You be sure she isn't killed," Izumi told Miles, with sudden seriousness in her voice. He nodded.

"Lets get you on your train shall we?"

------------------------------------------

A car ride, a train, and a lot of hiking later, Ed and his companions finally reached their train to London. They had driven to the border, where they had to take a train to get to the right city, and after much confusion, ended up on the way to London. The ride was as quiet as the one to Briggs. As expected the ride took the whole day, so they decided to sleep as much as possible. Al shook them all awake when he heard the speaker say something about the next stop being Kings Cross London. They arrived in about 15 minutes. They got off the train, and headed into the daylight. Outside they saw many crowds of people.

"What should we do?" asked Winry softly.

"Lets wait here. They'll see Al and come to us. He's kind of hard to miss." Ed replied, remembering his letter. The wait dragged on and on.

Suddenly they heard a cry of, "Over there, I see it!"

"See what?"

"A huge suit of armor just like in the letter."

"Letter, what letter? Sir why are we here?"

"We are here because we are late, Harry."

"What do you mean?"

"Come boy, hurry up, there's no time to lose!"

They Amestrians glanced at each other. When they got a good look at their welcoming party at was a bit of a shock.

--

--

--

--

--

_Muahaha! I'm sorry for Izumi's OCC-ness but, I couldn't resist doing that._

_It's a cliffy! But kind of an obvious one no? Ed-plosion comes next chapter along with a special appearance by Draco Malfoy!_

_And by the way, no, the inside jokes will keep coming (but theres only 2 parts of the __**Onward!**__ chapters)_


	6. Introductions

_Hmm…wonder who came to meet Ed?_

_And because I haven't said it in a while, __I don't own any of these fandoms that I write about, I just own what I write about them_

--

--

**Chapter 6: Introductions**

Standing in front of the travelers was the strangest group of people one could think of. There was a lanky girl with pink spiky hair and wearing weird robes; next to her was a creepy looking robe-clad man with a missing chunk in his nose, and one of his eyes was larger than normal vivid blue, and was rolling around in his head. The two behind them were a very old man with an enormous beard (also wearing robes), and a thin boy with black hair, round glasses, who was wearing normal clothes. They were obviously Ed's welcoming committee, and he could feel Winry shrink back as the creepy guy's one blue eye rolled around to focus directly on her.

The old man came forward and held out his hand.

"Which one of you is Edward Elric?" Ed stepped forward.

The old man smiled. "I am Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. It is very nice to meet you. I am so sorry we're late, but Harry and I had something to do before coming and that delayed us a slight bit." Ed shook the hand extended to him,

"It's fine. We were alright waiting." The man nodded, reminding Al of Hohenheim for a brief second, before turning to face the others. "You are his family I presume?"

Izumi shook her head, "I'm his teacher Izumi Curtis. This is his brother Alphonse," Alphonse waved briefly, "and this is their close friend Winry Rockbell." Winry nodded politely.

Dumbledore stepped back, "This is Nymphadora Tonks-"

"Please don't call me that sir." Snapped the woman with the pink hair, looking highly annoyed.

"-Who prefers to be known as simply Tonks. This is Alastor Moody," the other man grunted, "and Harry Potter, who you shall be going to school with."

"Nice to meet you," said Harry, smiling hesitantly. Ed smiled back. _If I'm going to possibly live with this guy I don't want to get started off badly._

"So, now what? The letter mentioned me getting supplies…" Ed said, wanting to get **on** with it. Dumbledore smiled.

"Eager are you? That's wonderful. I shall be leaving you now, while Tonks, Alastor, and Harry take you to do just that."

"But sir!" Harry said franticly, "You said as soon as we were done talking to Slughorn, we were heading straight to the Burrow." There was no mistaking the disappointment in his voice.

"Alas Harry, times change. Now, I need to be going, so farewell everyone." Dumbledore started walking off through the crowd, and seemingly vanished.

"Alright, Edward. Lets be off then!" said Tonks, giving him a huge smile. "We're going to Diagon Alley, so we can talk without being disturbed." Izumi nodded.

"Yes, lets be off."

The group started walking down the street. The wizards walked ahead of them, until they reached a small pub.

"The Leaky Cauldron?" Izumi read skeptically. "Are you sure this is it?"

"Yeah, this is it," said Moody, shouldering open the door. They walked inside, to see a large space complete with a bar and several tables. Tonks led them over to a secluded corner table, and they sat down, Al's armor attracting many stares.

---------------------------

"Now," said Moody after they had gotten drinks. "Have you ever used magic before son?" Ed tilted his head to the side.

"Do you mean magic like with a wand? Or alchemy, because alchemy I've done loads of times. Never magic though."

The wizards seemed quite surprised at this. "Could you show us this _alchemy_?" asked Tonks, after a moment.

"Sure," said Ed, reaching for his glass. He clapped his hand together, and after the confused faces of the wizards sunk in, he transmuted his glass into a small statue of Mustang crying over a gigantic stack of paperwork. Al rolled his eyes, Winry smiled, Izumi nodded proudly, and the wizards stared.

"How did you do that?" Harry asked, wide eyed.

Al nudged his brother, "You might've wanted to use a transmutation circle instead."

"Right, forgot about that. Got some chalk? Or a pen?" Ed asked the room in general. Izumi handed him a pencil.

"Make sure you erase it off the table Ed," Winry said quietly.

"Yeah, yeah," Ed muttered, drawing a small diagram around the statue. He crossed his hands over it, and it became a glass again.

Again, the wizards stared, wide eyed.

"What?" Ed asked. "The whole hand thing, I know is weird, but that was basic. Don't you have alchemy here?" He was met with shaken heads. There was a brief pause, and afterwards Moody got up from the table.

"I need to tell the Order about this," he muttered softly to Tonks, "Proceed as if he hasn't used magic before." Tonks nodded, and Moody Apparated off. Ed, Al, and Winry jumped up, knocking over their chairs.

"What did he just do?" they cried, looking around. Tonks waved them back into their seats and began speaking.

"Okay, so obviously what you just did isn't magic. That's perfectly fine, it just means you may have to do a few beginner classes for a few weeks. Mad-Eye just Apparated, which is a form of travel that is common with us wizards. Now, before we do anything else I need to ask you a few questions."

"Alright," Ed said, anticipating this.

"Where do you come from? I only ask this because we did not pick up your existence until a few weeks ago, which is odd considering we normally know who and where the newest wizards are once they've been born."

"I'm from Amestris," _So they record the new wizards the same way Drachma monitors alchemy. Weird._

Harry gave them a blank look, and Tonks hurried to cover up a similar one.

"I'm sorry, where?"

"Amestris. It's South of Drachma, and West of Xing." Ed was met with more blank looks. Winry glanced at him apprehensively.

"Um, we've heard of Drachma, but never Amestris or Xing. However, that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Okay so, this may seem weird, but," Tonks seemed to be trying to phrase something. Harry took over for her.

"Where are your parents, and why didn't they come with you?" Harry asked, while giving them a look that clearly said, _I get this all the time._

Al started "Our mom died when we were young and we aren't in touch with our father because-"

"He's a damn bastard. Our legal guardian wasn't able to come here so instead Sensei decided to come." Ed finished, venom showing in his voice when he mentioned Hohenheim. Tonks was caught off guard and Harry nodded, knowing the feeling all too well (only about the Dursleys).

"Well, that's nice. Since we've gotten what we basically wanted I just need to ask two more things. How old are you really, and how old is your brother," said Tonks.

Ed was about explode into 'I'm not shortness' so Izumi spoke up for him.

"Ed is 16, and Al will be 15 in a month." Tonks nodded like it was no surprise for her, and Harry's jaw dropped.

"YOU'RE the same age as me? How is someone as short as you 16?" he burst out.

"I'M NOT SHORT DAMMIT!!! DON'T CALL ME TINY! OR A RUNT! OR ANYTHING DAMN YOU!" screamed Ed, and was about to tackle Harry, when Al and Winry restrained him, Izumi hitting him on the head to take the fight out of him.

"Calm down dummy!" Winry called.

"Big Brother, shut up!" Al yelled. Ed stopped, and glared at Harry, who was feebly protesting his innocence against half of Ed's claims.

_So much for not starting off too badly. Oh well, __**he's**__ the one who called me short, dammit._

--

--

--

--

--

--

_Because I love them just that much…_

_Not quite sure why I said that, but whatever. _

_Yeah, Roy sure hates his paperwork. He's a bit like Kyoraku from __Bleach__ in that respect… And now that I think of it, so's Hawkeye and Nanao. _

_Starts seeing parallels _

_AAAAHHHHH!!!! KyorakuMustang and HawkeyeNanao!!! The Apocalypse is coming!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!_

_Dodges a flying brick and hides behind a wall_

_If the world hasn't ended yet, I'll be updating soon._


	7. Secrets of Newcomers

_Sadly enough, I do have points of view in these next few chapters. I apologise in advance._

--

--

**Chapter 7: Secrets of Newcomers**

Wizards' POV:

Tonks tapped the bricks on Diagon Alley's back wall, and then led the group to Gringotts.

Harry kept up with her, keeping as far away from the explosive guy (_His name's Edward right?_) as possible. He could hear slight bits of their conversation.

"This is amazing," exclaimed the girl. He heard faint agreement from the other three. Harry's head twitched as he strained to hear what the older woman was saying.

"Now, Ed tell no one about Al's…or your…Wear gloves all the time."

"I know. I know that much from watching people actually used to the concept of blood seals…don't know alchemy…probably forbidden."

"Big Brother don't show off too much okay."

"Ed, try not to overreact to people saying your short. Once you get…. you'll be shooting up. You're already taller than me, and I'm not…. two bodies."

"I am aren't I. Still. What if Envy, or the Führer, or Li…here? Then what? What if they do…5th laboratory…. Briggs…"

"Big Brother a homuncu…London…far away…what use…Can't do anything…you're a sacrifice…important to them, and so they won't be able to do an…winter holidays."

_What the hell?_ Thought Harry, and he brought his attention back to the present. _Two bodies? Blood seal? Forbidden alchemy? Homuncu? Sacrifice? Briggs? Envy? Führer? What's with these people? There's something they aren't telling us._

Tonks brought them inside the huge bank, the newcomers marveling at the outside, and glancing confusedly at the goblins. Harry thought he heard the word chimera used once, so he dropped back to where they were, ignoring their surprised looks.

"They're goblins. I know most Muggles think they're myths, but actually most magical creatures are real. There's even a class about taking care of them," Harry said, simultaneously smiling and shuddering inwardly when he mentioned Hagrid's class. The light in Al's eyeholes (of the armor) got brighter at the subject.

"Really? That's amazing! What oth-" Al was cut off by Winry asking,

"What are Muggles?" at the same time Ed said, "Why do the goblins work in the bank instead of with the rest of the wizards?"

Harry could hear odd concern in his voice.

"Are they only allowed to work here? Do they choose it?" Ed continued.

Harry shrugged, "I don't really know. Ask Hermione, she'll probably know," he turned to face Winry, "and Muggles are non-magic people. Normal people," he ended bitterly, using one of the Dursleys' phrases. Ed's eyes widened.

"What, it's not normal for people here to use magic? In Amestris alchemy is common. Anyone can use it if they know the formulas."

It was now Harry's turn to look confused. Tonks turned around, about to tell them that they were ready to go into the vaults (she had been talking to the goblins at the counter while Harry was speaking to the newcomers) when she heard what Edward said.

"What!" they both cried. Tonks recovered first.

"But don't the Muggles always bug you to help you fix stuff, and give you miracles?" she asked. Izumi shook her head.

"Only if the alchemist has offered or if the alchemists have done some damage to something. Otherwise, alchemy is so common that only small children see it as magic."

The wizards absorbed this, nodded, and proceeded to bring the Amestrians to a cart.

----------------

A goblin, Fullsteel, (Ed had almost jumped to the ceiling in amazement, upon hearing the name. Harry couldn't guess why. Al just laughed heartily at some inside irony) drove them down to the Hogwarts vault. While going down, Harry chatted some with those his age, and the scary looking woman talked with Tonks. While talking to them, Harry found out about Resembool, and Rush Valley, and Pinako, and Garfiel. He heard about Mustang and Hawkeye (but wasn't told much about any of them besides that they existed, and were their friends/Ed's boss).

The descriptions were cut off by the arrival at the Hogwarts vault, number 667. Winry nudged Ed and pointed to the vault next door. Ed cracked up.

"So Hogwarts keeps it's money by the devil's eh? Pity I'm not religious. If I was I'd be hanging up crosses and muttering prayers," he laughed. Harry joined in. It was nice that the transfer was someone he could laugh with.

Fullsteel opened the vault with a collection of exactly 37 keys and a "Mundanilator". The door swung open. Winry's eyes instantly lit up.

"How does that work? Huh huh? How? How'd you get the timing on the key turn to be so perfect?" she started ranting, eyes filled with fire. Fullsteel laughed.

"Many people are surprised at our tools, but few express the same interest you do. It is interesting. Normal wizards generally take our craft for granted, and dismiss it as the way of the world. They forget that we have no magic, while you seem like one who would appreciate the time put into making these vaults."

Harry squirmed guiltily. He had never given the enchantments and craft of the bank much thought before. Fullsteel was exactly right.

"I'm a mechanic myself. I make, uh," Winry glanced at Ed unsure of what say. He gave her a nod so small, Harry could barely pick up on it. "I make automail, a type of prosthetic! I love machines in general. That tool looked very complex! How does it work?"

Fullsteel promised to have a long talk with her later, saying any owl could find him if she wanted to meet afterwards.

"Alright, alright, enough waiting outside!" called Izumi and Tonks simultaneously.

"Lets just get the gold and get back. Now Ed do you have any Muggle money?" Tonks asked.

"Um yeah, but not much. What kind of-" Ed was partially speechless, along with everyone else besides Fullsteel and Tonks. Harry had never seen the Hogwarts vault. It was amazing. Huge golden inlays held up the celing, and precious stones as well as money littered the floor.

When everyone had gotten over their awe, Fullsteel filled a metal grate to full, and tipped it inside a bag. He got slightly less than half of another grate-full

("Because you are a transfer, and you have family with you.").

Ed took the offered bag, and the group got back on the trolley. On the way back, Harry proceeded to tell them about Ron, Hermione, summer with the Dursleys, and the rest of Diagon Alley. Harry noted that in both conversations, they left out anything really important about their lives.

However, the Amestrians were enthralled, and when they got up to fresh air, Harry noticed new enthusiasm. Winry chatted with Fullsteel about the types of tools and the cart systems, while Tonks exchanged most of Ed's Amestrian money for more gold, checking out the vault key. Fullsteel bid them good-bye, and Tonks sat them down at Fortesques's Ice Cream parlor.

Once they'd all ordered, Tonks asked Ed to take out his supply list, telling Harry he'd be going shopping with the Weasleys. Harry was overjoyed, but was still attentive to Ed's list. He was curious about what it would say for the transfer student.

**Uniform:**

Three sets of plain black robes

One plain pointed black hat (for day wear)

One pair of protective gloves

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings

**Course Books:**

Standard Book of Spells Grades 1, 3, 5, and 6

A History of Magic

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration

Magical Drafts and Potions

The Dark forces: A guide to Self-Protection

Confronting the Faceless

Advanced Potion Making

Order other books as necessary for your classes

Enclosed is a sheet of electives we offer for 6th years. If interested in any, the course books are listed beside the class.

**Other Supplies:**

-1 wand

-1 cauldron (pewter standard size 2)

-1 set phials

-1 telescope

-1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl, a cat, a rat, or a toad

Harry and Ed stared at the list. "What the?" was all that came out of both their mouths.

Harry spoke first; saying, "You got a lot of first year's books-" at the same time Izumi, said "Dang, they're really serious about it being magical aren't they."

Tonks laughed at both. Everyone else just kind of stood there.

"C'mon, Ed, Al, Winry, Izumi. Lets get you guys to the shops."

------------------------

Amestrian POV:

The group wandered into Flourish and Blotts. They got every book on Ed's list (including the ones required for Astronomy and Arithmancy), and after getting the _Standard Book of Spells_ year numbers getting mixed up a third time, Izumi just grabbed the books for all seven years and they bought all of them.

"He'll have something for the ride anyways," she shrugged, the clerk raising its eyebrows to an unnatural height.

Next they went to Madam Malkins for robes, and Ed was thankful that all he had to do was take off his coat and not his long sleeves or gloves. The last thing he wanted was for the entire shop to see his automail, much less anyone else.

While inside, Harry saw one of his friends and brought her over. It was a girl named Luna. She seemed very pleasant, and spoke in a high, dreamlike voice. She got along really well with Al, and though Winry held back, Ed knew it was because she would probably never see the girl again. Ed liked her though. Luna left an impression on people, a good one in his case.

After buying his uniform, they went to the apothecary for potions ingredients, and then set off to buy cauldrons. After the third store Tonks knew about was found boarded up, Ed went ahead and asking the thing that had been tugging on the back of his mind.

"Why are all the shops boarded up? Why is everyone talking in whispers? And who is this You-Know-Who?" There were several mentions of this "You-Know-Who" in the bits of newspaper Ed had been able to read, and this was beginning to annoy him.

Harry turned around slowly.

"Ed, we can't talk about this in the open. People might hear. But the shops are closed up either because people are scared, or the owners have disappeared. I promise to tell you everything else once we're at Hogwarts, okay?"

Ed nodded slowly, and then continued walking. _He's hiding something. I can tell. This You-Know-Who had something to do with a bad memory, at the very least. I wonder if You-Know-Who is the reason people are getting scared… Oh well, he'll be telling me at school anyways. I shouldn't worry._ Even so, Ed became slightly more guarded around Harry than before.

--

--

--

--

_I do strange things with points of view, so sorry about any confusion. As a disclaimery thing, I feel like explaination-ing myself_

_Unrolls scroll and proclaims Unless stated other wise, the fic shall be 3__rd__ person from Ed. So, like in Harry Potter where tis 3__rd__ person, but we only see Harry's thoughts. When stated otherwise, it'l be stated, so no explanation of that for you! Mehheheh…._

_Next chapter they shall continue the search for Ed's cauldron, but they shall meet up with dearest Draco. __**Yay!!**_


	8. Einkaufen und Kämpfender

**Chapter 8:** **Einkaufen und Kämpfender**

-----

_In case you don't know German the title means, "shopping and fighting" I was bored._

_I am sorry for the time lag between updates, but here it is._

Winry's Pov:

We'd been looking of cauldrons for about half an hour already. It was starting to seriously get on my nerves until we finally reached an open stall. Tonks approved of the merchandise, and so Ed got his cauldron. I'm starting to get really tired, and was glad when Tonks said we would be doing our last stop tomorrow. I have no idea of where we're going to stay, but I hope there's enough beds. On second thought, maybe only two beds would be okay. I mean, Al doesn't need one, and if Ed and me shared that wouldn't be _so_ bad. _Stop._ I think to myself. _Just because you love him doesn't mean he feels the same. So stop doing things to get your hopes up, all right. It'll just make you feel worse in the end._ I realize that everyone else has left, and I run to catch up with them, grabbing Ed's arm unconsciously. I don't think he really notices. We stop in this square to get our bearings, and suddenly this boy appears. He has two goons who look like soldiers from Central following him. He begins immediately walking over to us. Though he looks fine, I get the same kind of feeling from him as I do Kimbley. One of hidden menace. I notice Harry's face darkening, and his hand balling into a fist. The guy seems to tell his bodyguards to hold, and walks right up to Ed, and gives him a face that looks like a smile and smirk got transmuted together.

"My name is Draco Malfoy. Pleased to meet you, transfer student." He drawls.

Ed stares at him, an eyebrow rising.

"And I care because? Who are you anyway?"

"Like I said, I'm Draco Malfoy. I heard a transfer was coming from my father. The Ministry tells him everything you know." The boy (Draco) sneers. Ed makes a face of mock confusion.

"I'm sorry, my unsuperior-ness of you has made me confused. I am not used to your high ways, so could you please tell what the hell a ministry is?" The Malfoy boy is taken aback, probably unused to being talked to with such sarcastic loathing. Harry answers for him.

"The Ministry of Magic is our government." Ed nodded. He's probably thinking about not wanting to become another "dog of the ministry" of whatever. I can see it on his face as he processes this. I look at the Draco guy. He seems to be recovering from his hidden insults. Finally he speaks.

"As I said, I know you're the new transfer student. Edward Elric is it? Myself, I didn't think you were the same age as us when I first saw you, but everything else matches the description given to me."

Ed is starting to vibrate. I put my hand on his shoulder, ready to hold him back. I quickly whisper "He didn't actually call you short yet," so soft I doubt Ed even hears me. Oh! He did hear me, as he's calming down.

"So what do you need with me, um, what do I call you? Draco?" Ed said, actually slightly civil. I can see Harry's shoulders droop at the absence of loathing in Ed's voice.

"Malfoy will be fine, thank you," Malfoy answers, as if he's talking to a servant.

"What I need with you isn't a need exactly. It is a request."

"That's nice. What is it?" retorts Ed, getting annoyed.

"Well, lets just say some wizarding families are better than others. You don't want to go around making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there," Malfoy said, holding out a hand.

Ed scowled. "I think I can judge who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks. I don't really need your help." Harry laughed.

"You reused the same speech, you get the exact same answer, Malfoy. Aren't those the same words you used for me in first year? I'm surprised you remembered? Have you been practicing?"

"Shut your mouth Potter, or I'll shut it for you."

"ENOUGH!"

Both boys had drawn their wands, and were advancing on each other when Izumi yelled. Tonks had her wand out, and was holding Harry's arm, while Izumi stood in between the two. Ed had his arm in front of Crabbe and Goyle, stopping them from helping their leader. Slowly the two put their wands away, and backed up. Tonks released Harry's arm, Izumi got out from between them, and Ed came back over to me. He positioned himself slightly more in front of me than before, which comforted me.

"Now," said Izumi commandingly, "Tonks and I are going to go sort out where we will be staying tonight. If anything else like this happens, I will make sure you are physically unable to do so again. That includes both of you," she adds, staring down Malfoy. He seems to recoil under her gaze, like everyone else who tries to face off with her. I smile inwardly, _Thank you, Ms. Izumi._ But then, Tonks and Izumi stride off, and as soon as they are no longer in sight, Malfoy gets right get in Ed's face.

"I'd be careful if I were you Elric. Right now's dangerous times. If you hang around with riff-raff like those half-bloods Potter and Tonks, and that idiot wearing the armor, it'll rub off on you." His goons laughed. I felt Ed tense.

"What did you say about them? That they're idiots and half bloods?" his voice dangerously quiet. I can see Al's own wounded ego get knocked by the sound of his voice.

"Yeah, I did. Potter here had a Mudblood for a mother. Probably better off with her killed, though he's practically one himself, seeing as those Muggles raised him," Malfoy said nonchalantly, not even noticing Harry take out his wand, face contorting in fury.

"_Stup-"_ Harry yelled, only to be cut off by a quiet "_Expelliarmus_." His wand went flying, and Al caught it before it could get lost.

"Oooh, nice reflexes, metal monkey. I'm not longer surprised that you survive attacks from antique salesmen. Anyway Elric, you might not want to keep hanging around with these people much more. This girl here looks nice, but that scary lady had issues." Malfoy didn't notice Ed starting to vibrate again, and gestured the bodyguards to come over. After that, he pulled me away from Ed and put his arm around my shoulder.

"So what do you say we ditch these losers. What was your name again?"

"What are you doing? Let me go." I say as calmly as possible, knowing guys seem it when girls fight.

"What're you talking about?" Malfoy grabs my hand instead. "Crabbe and Goyle can take care of Tiny over there if you think he'll get mad. That shrimp isn't worth your notice," Malfoy drawls. I start struggling but he just moves his arm from my hand to around my waist, squeezing harder the more I protest. I feel his hand running down my shirt while holding me in place with his elbow, fingering the flap in front-

"JUST LET ME GO!" I yell, and suddenly he's releasing me. I see a shocked expression appear on Malfoy's face, when he sees what's in front of him. Crabbe and Goyle are lying on the ground, Ed is standing over them. I barely notice that Harry has his wand, or that Al is now standing next to Ed.

All I see is Ed's look of fury, and I can't help thinking that maybe this time it has more to do with me, than being called short.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ed's POV:

"Oooh, nice reflexes, metal monkey. I'm not longer surprised that you survive attacks from antique salesmen. Anyway Elric, you might not want to keep hanging around with these people much more. This girl here looks nice, but that scary lady had issues." Malfoy sneers at me, and I can feel my self-starting to shake with rage. _He's insulted Al twice now, made fun of Harry's mother, called Tonks something nasty, and said Sensei had issues. He __WILL__ pay._ I think, planning my revenge once we get to Hogwarts. But all my thoughts stop when I see him grab Winry's hand, and put his arm around her shoulder.

"So what do you say we ditch these losers. What was your name again?"

"What are you doing? Let me go." I know Winry is trying to stay calm, but I can tell she's terrified. I start walking over to them, but suddenly the bigger of the two goons (Crabbe I think) is standing in my face. I try to dodge around him, but he blocks me steadily.

"Get out of my way." I say quietly, and he laughs. Around him I can see Malfoy gripping Winry's hand, and saying something to her. I freeze, rage overtaking me.

"What're you talking about? Crabbe and Goyle can take care of Tiny over there if you think he'll get mad. That shrimp isn't worth your notice." My face darkens, and I start striding forward, but Crabbe shoves me back. I really don't want this to end badly, so I try pushing past him, but he shoves me into Al, knocking him over. Out of the corner of my eyes I see Goyle holding down Harry. Suddenly I freeze at what I see next. Malfoy has grabbed Winry's waist, and is ignoring her struggling, gripping tighter, hand around her waist groping in front of her, and I can see the other one sliding down her back-

"LET ME GO!"

Winry's cry snaps me out of my reverie. Moving almost in slow motion, I stand up calmly, and kick Crabbe in the face with my automail leg, and as I land, pull Goyle off of Harry and punch him into unconsciousness. Rage, so potent I think it might kill me, courses through my body, and I stand over them, ignoring Al giving Harry back his wand, ignoring my own victory.

I only see Malfoy releasing Winry, and the relief her eyes hold.

--

--

--

--

_Because not everybody can be gay, and Draco is a perv. _

_I love my cliffies! But since I'm doing a double update theres really no need so…._


	9. An Alchemist’s Anger

**Chapter 9: An Alchemist's Anger**

Ed's POV:

Malfoy is staring at me in shock. I feel Al settle next to me, and see Harry on my other side from out of the corner of my eye. I say one word, and put as much venom into it as possible.

"Leave."

Malfoy smirks, and shrugs. He's putting on a cool face, but I can tell he's been shaken by what's happened.

"Well, I don't really feel like it do I shorty? Besides you've thrashed my friends, and can't let you get away with that. You haven't even got a wand yet have you?"

"I'M NOT SHORT DAMN YOU! OR TINY! OR A SHRIMP! OR LITTLE! OR CHIBI! NOW GET AWAY FROM US OR YOU'LL GET WORSE THAN THOSE IDIOTS DID!" I explode, realizing I sound stupid, but not caring. That's the third time he's called me short, and he deserved it anyways for what he would've done to Winry.

I run at him, ready to hit the shit out of him, but he pulls out his wand and shouts "_Stupefy!"_ The flash of light comes out of his wand and hits my automail. It doesn't affect anything, but the force of it sends me flying backwards.

Harry rushes over to me, and yells "_Petrificus Totalus!_" and another flash of light streams towards Malfoy. I'm not sure how he dodged it, but the…spell? preoccupied him long enough for Harry to point his wand at me and say "_Enervate._" I get up, and Harry explains that I was just Stunned. I'm not affected at all, but I play along and thank him for…'Un-Stunning?' me.

I get up, and Malfoy is back in the game, but still making it hard to for Winry get back to us.

"Can you cover me?" I mutter to the others. Harry nods, and Al tenses up.

I run toward Malfoy completely unguarded.

He raises his eyebrows and sends spells at me, but Harry says something I can't hear because of the blood pounding in my ears, and a wall envelopes me, and the spells bounce off. Off to the side I know Al had grabbed Winry, and is pulling her back over to where him and Harry are, but I press forward. By the time I reach him, Malfoy looks desperate, and seems to be using all the spells he knows how.

I do a half summersault and kick him in to face. Harry's wall evaporates, and Malfoy is sending spells at me, which I'm doing my best to dodge. Looking like he's at his last resort, Malfoy yells, "_Crucio!"_

---

Malfoy's POV:

"_Crucio!_" I yell.

Time moves in slow motion. I see the flash of red light; see Elric come down right where the spell is headed. Potter's shocked expression is most likely a mirror of mine, as I stare at my wand, wondering what I've done. Elric lands, and a few precious seconds before the spell hits him he claps his hands and slams them to the ground.

A blinding flash coupled with a feeling of massive gathering energy, explodes before us, and as the smoke I didn't think would be there, clears, I see a short wall of stone had appeared in front of Elric, which promptly collapsed after absorbing the full onslaught of the spell.

I am so shocked I nearly drop my wand. Knowing I can't lose my cool, I quickly put on a scowl, and conjure stretchers for Crabbe and Goyle. I levitate them onto them as the others rush over to Elric, Potter staring in amazement and the girl with unsuppressed relief. I walk up to them, and after a moment of impulse bow slightly.

"A good duel, Elric. While you escape unharmed, I have unarmed victims to heal. So good day to you and your dirty tactics, rage-full transfer." I don't try to suppress the loathing in my voice, nor the hint of admiration. I stalk off, the laden stretchers following me. I hear someone running up to me, and turn.

It is the shrimp, probably coming to return my farewell in kind. He stops about a foot away from me.

"Yes?" I say, as condescending as possible. He glares at up at me.

"You say anything else about my brother or my sensei and you get what your friends did. I'm pretty sure I've found the right sort of wizard by now, and they're already better friends than you could ever be." Giving me an even deeper look of hatred, he walks away and mutters quietly, "Stay away from Winry."

----

Back to Normal:

Izumi and Tonks came back up the hill in time to see Malfoy retreating around the corner with stretchers in tow, and see Ed stomping back to the group, clearly in a bad mood. Tonks noted that Winry looked both harassed and highly relieved, while Izumi could tell Harry was in a deep state of shock kindled with relief.

"What happened?" Tonks asked. The four shrugged, and Ed began.

"That Malfoy guy started insulting us, particularly Harry's mother. He also made fun of Al, called me short, called you a filthy half blood, and said Sensei had serious issues and bad hair. Harry got angry, but Malfoy did something that made his wand fly away. Malfoy grabbed Winry and was pulling her away by the hand. He called me short three times while talking to her, so I lost it and exploded, accidentally knocking out Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy tried to Stun me, hitting my arm," Ed held up his automail arm, "Harry distracted him while Un-Stunning me, and shielded me while I tried fighting Malfoy. He kept trying to curse me but I dodged it. Malfoy left with his tail between his legs when I transmuted a wall to shield myself. I'm unharmed because the wall absorbed the impact and collapsed." Ed finished.

Tonks nodded. "Winry, did Malfoy do anything to you when he was pulling you away?"

Winry shook her head. "No, he just kept insulting them."

Izumi nodded. "Harry, did Malfoy use any dangerous curses while this happened?"

"No, the worst one was that curse that hangs you upside-down. There wasn't anything too serious." Harry decided to keep the knowledge of Malfoy's Cruciatus Curse to himself. He'd seen Malfoy's shocked face as soon as it was uttered, so he doubted it would have been very powerful anyways.

_Like Bellatrix said in the Ministry,_ Harry thought bitterly, remembering Sirius' murderer, _you have to __**really**__ mean them_.

---

After all the confusion had been sorted out, Tonks left the Amestrians at the Leaky Cauldron, while she side-along Apparated Harry to the Burrow. She came back a moment later, ordering some fire whiskey for her and Izumi, and getting the teenagers butterbeer. As they sipped their drinks, Tonks told them what they would do until going to back to Amestris.

"Well, it's been decided that you guys are going to stay with me! I can sleep on the sofa, Izumi and Al can share the extra room, and Ed and Winry can share mine. I'm afraid I only have enough room for two beds, but I can conjure sleeping bags so you still have some privacy/separation." Winry agreed enthusiastically, with the others looking more cautious. Tonks assured them her house was one of the most heavily guarded houses (as it was a safe house), and when met with confused looks, she told them that she would explain why later. Satisfied with this plan, Tonks Apparated all of them to her house one by one.

---

"Sorry if I mislead you, its more of an apartment than a house, but that's how they make them here," Tonks said hurriedly, opening the door of her place. It was in a complex of those long buildings with interconnected attics and two floors to themselves. Tonks had a small enlargement charm placed on the house, so it could be used as a safe house along with several other enchantments placed by the order.

"The enlargement charm is very specific. It works kind of like the clock at the Burrow; well you don't really know what that is do you." Tonks started over.

"When someone enters the house, it has an enchantment so that it knows what kind of condition they're in. For example, if they're sick, then a room with medicine shows up. The only way a whole separate room would show up is if their life is in immediate danger. So, you guys must be fine because the place is basically the same, unless some change I can't see happened." Tonks shrugged. "I haven't seen all the places the enchantment can sense yet, or the diiferent ways it can change, I just know that it has the basic settings of Molly's clock and a few more complex ones."

"When will you tell us-?"

"You'll find out later on."

The Amestrians nodded, and went to their rooms, having already eaten. Al pulled out a book and started reading, preparing for a long night of listening to his sensei's snores.

--

Back in the other room, Ed changed in the bathroom, letting Winry have some privacy. When she was done he emerged, grabbing a sleeping bag, and putting on the bed. Ed's automail was covered by one sleeve, in case Tonks showed up. He put on socks on just in case. Winry smiled sarcastically. "I put so much work into making that frigid weather automail for you, and you're going to have to keep it hidden the whole time! Why bother?"

Ed laughed, getting into the sleeping bag. Winry got under the sheets, and they turned out the lamp.

"Good night Winry."

"Night Ed."

--

--

--

--

_for those of you that think this story is taking forever to get going, you're absolutely right. I promise that stuff will be revealed eventually, and it won't take 20 chapter for Ed to actually get to Hogwarts. _

_So far my page count is at 25 pages, and I keep reminding myself that when JK Rowling got to 25 pages, she hadn't even introduced Hagrid, and when Arakawa-sensei got to 9 chapters, we hadn't gotten past the exposition of FMA._

_It makes me feel better dammit!!!_

_Updates are coming soon._


	10. A Two Part Affair

**Chapter 10: A Two Part Affair**

--

_so you know, part 1 is amazing, and part 2 is pure Edry (aka EdWin) fluff. If you hate the pairing, don't read past part 1. but on the plus side, those darn Amestrians will finally LEAVE!!!_

--

**Part 1: A Curious Sale**

--

Ed woke up with the sun as usual. He sat up, and discovered his arm was draped around something.

Winry.

And from the looks of things, they had been sleeping veeeery close to each other.

Ed could feel his face turn bright red, and quickly left the room to change, muttering the periodic table as he did so. He splashed some water on his face, trying to make his embarrassment hide the memory of his nightmare.

It was the same one every night, where Al blamed him for what happened, Winry shooting Scar and ending up dead, the souls of Envy's true form screaming at him, ending with Truth staring at him with his maniacal grin.

Ed shook his head and recited a bit more to clear his head. Getting dressed so that his arm and leg were covered, he walked into the kitchen and got himself some water.

"_Sigh."_

Ed turned around, and saw Tonks in the hallway to the small sitting area, looking out a window. _Or is that a picture?_ Ed wondered, walking over to her. Tonks nodded at him and stepped to the side letting him stare, at the frame.

It was a full color picture of a group of wizards. The people were moving. They were laughing chatting, waving, being grim, and were alive. Tonks smiled.

"We took that a few months ago, before the fiasco at the Ministry. There's me off to the side," Tonks pointed at herself. Ed looked confused.

"But your hair is different. And you're taller," he spluttered, flabbergasted at what he saw.

"I'm a Metamorphagus. I was born with the ability to change my appearance at will." Tonks screwed up her eyes, and her hair changed from spiky pink to a brilliant amethyst Mohawk. Ed smiled.

"Beautiful. Keep it just like that."

Tonks laughed, changing it back despite Ed's protests.

"But anyways, next to me is Remus Lupin, you'll meet him later. Beside him is Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. We're standing is what was his ancestral home – in the picture anyways. In the middle is Dumbledore, and next to him is Mad-Eye. He was with us when we picked you up. Beside him are teachers from Hogwarts, McGonagall and Snape. The family with the flaming hair is the Weasleys; their son is one of Harry's best friends. On the other side of me is Kingsley Shacklebolt, he's another Auror."

"I'm sorry, what's an Auror?" Ed wondered aloud.

"An Auror is a dark wizard catcher, employed by the Ministry. I'm an Auror, and Mad-Eye's a retired one." Ed's interest immediately plummeted, replaced by utter refusal. There was one thing he had to ask though.

"If they need you to kill someone, I mean." Ed paused, unsure of how to say it. "Do you have to kill people? Like, are their some people you don't even have the option to capture, you just kill them?" Ed stopped. Tonks nodded, eyes downcast.

"Yes, we do." She answered.

"Then there is no way I want to be an Auror," Ed said. "I already am a dog of one damn military, I won't become another one for a country I don't even live in."

Tonks looked confused, but decided to let it drop until the got his whole story. She thought it might be a good time to wake up the others.

"Hey, Ed can you wake up the others while I make some tea? They leave tonight, so we only have a short while to finish everything up." Ed left to go wake up Izumi and Winry. He stuck his head inside his brother's room, and asked him to wake Izumi. Al put his book down and started poking Izumi with a very long stick (so that her reflexes wouldn't send him flying, and alert Tonks to his hollowness.

Meanwhile, Ed walked into his own room, highly apprehensive. Deciding to act natural, he put him hand on Winry's shoulder, and shook her gently. _She's so beautiful when she sleeps. Her face looks so peaceful,_ Ed thought, not realizing what he was thinking. After no response from Winry, he leaned down by her ear and said softly, almost tenderly, "Wake up Winry."

Winry sat straight up, smacking Ed in the forehead with the side of her head and knocking him over. She stepped over him dazedly, and went to go get dressed.

-------------------------------------------------

"So, today we go to Diagon Alley to buy Edward's wand, and then we go to King's Cross where you three ride home, and then I'll find out where Ed'll be staying afterwards." Tonks finished. She hadn't told them about You-Know-Who, but instead she told them about how Ed would be going to Hogwarts, and what they would do that day. There was a slight surprise when Tonks found there was no milk anywhere in the "whole damn house", so they'd skipped having tea.

"But what about-"

"I'm sorry Alphonse. I can't tell you anything for your own safety. From what Izumi had told me, there is a whole country made up entirely of alchemists like Ed, so if word were to get out, you'd be safer if you could honestly claim ignorance." Al nodded, and Winry sighed. _Why does everyone always feel the need to protect me?_ She thought.

The group set out for Ollivander's, and Tonks stood ready outside while the others entered the little shop.

Ed's POV:

I step into the shop and I see a small chair in the corner and thousands of boxes stacked up to the ceiling. It looks eerily like Sheska's house only with thin boxes instead of thick books. A small bell rings in the back as we come in, and I faintly hear someone moving boxes around, and suddenly an old man is standing beside me. His eyes were the color of the moon, but pierced me as if they had been fired by a gun Hawkeye was shooting at me.

"Good Afternoon, Mr. Elric. I had a feeling I would be seeing you here sometime soon. No one around you looks familiar, but then again you transfers are very eluding, are you not." He says in a soft voice that somehow fills the whole room.

"Hello?" I say, confused.

"Could you hold out your wand arm?" he asks softly. I am confused.

"What do you mean?"

"What arm do you write with? What arm do you feel the most ease when using? What arm do you draw with? All those questions are simply the same story with separate details. The answer is your wand arm."

I pause. I decide to use my non-automail arm, since it's better for writing. Mr. Ollivander takes out a tape measure and begins measuring, my arm, my height, and other random places, like the size of my antennae, and the length of my eyebrows. He breaks away from the tape measure, and to my surprise it keeps measuring, while Mr. Ollivander starts going through boxes. He comes back and examines one of the numbers in the tape measure. He looks puzzled and stares at me for a moment.

"I'm terribly sorry but could you please switch arms. I'm afraid that isn't your wand arm at all."

Confused, I switch to the arm that Winry made me, the one I know will always work, the one I know won't break down from overuse, the one custom-made for me, the one I used to write and draw with before I lost the real one. I realize now that it was the answer to all my questions – all my stories – and hold out my right arm. The tape measure begins to restart measuring, and Ollivander starts throwing back most of the boxes, and starts taking out new ones, almost frantically, as if to make up for lost time.

"That will do." He says, and the measure collapses on the floor.

"Try this wand, Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Please take it and give it a wave."

Feeling slightly stupid I wave the wand, and it is immediately snatched from my hand.

"No, not that one, take this. Beachwood and dragon heartstring. 9 inches. Very supple. Try it."

I wave the wand and it is snatched away too. I go through many, then dozens of wands, none of them seeming to be right. Mr. Ollivander seemed rather delighted by this than put off.

"Another tricky customer eh? You're my hardest since Mr. Potter came through here. But we'll find a match for you yet…Hm, I wonder…well, might as well have a try! Cedar and thestral hair. 13 inches. Fluid. Give it a wave."

I take the wand, and feel heat rush through my body, and down through my shoulder, and I literally feel it course through my automail into my wand. I wave it and elaborate patterns swirl out in streams of dark purples, blues, blacks, and a few pure strands of silver. They twist around in the air, and almost form a circle, when it vanishes. Mr. Ollivander starts applauding.

"Oh bravo! Very good job that was! I've never seen such a large display of magic come out of a wand before. Even when adults buy new ones, they never get that strong of a result!" He seemed to be enjoying himself, and as he went to go add up the cost for the wand he started muttering to himself.

"Curious…how very curious…"

"What's so curious?" I ask, wondering what's strange about my wand choice. The two moons look straight into mine again.

"Well Mr. Elric, thestrals are one of the darkest creatures in our world. They can only be seen by those who have seen someone die. And while that in itself is curious enough, it just so happens, that inside that wand is the blood of a thestral, for when I came upon it, the poor steed was badly wounded. And as cedars are known for being as vivid a red as blood, the wand was very curious," Mr. Ollivander came to stand very close to me, staring into my eyes. "This wand must think you worthy of it's wielding, for the wand is which chooses the wizard you know! Great things shall come from that wand Mr. Elric. Do not use it for the wrong purposes."

Though I am thoroughly creeped out by this, I buy the wand anyway and am exalted even so. This is my first real proof that **I**, **me**, can do magic.

-------------------------

3rd person:

The Amestrians exited the shop quietly, all dazed at the fact that Ed could really do magic, that fact that it had been called highly powerful, and at the materials used to create the wand. Suddenly all four of them realized that any of them could see the thestrals, and that suddenly depressed them. Tonks decided not to ask questions, instead taking them to the Cauldron, and buying them all butterbeers. Knowing that whatever she said would lighten the mood, Tonks made an announcement she'd obviously wanted to make all morning.

"I heard from the Order, and they'll be sending Remus down here to meet me and Ed to escort him to King's Cross. Apparently I'm supposed to change my appearance to something that looks familiar to the 3 of you, so that people think I'm another Amestrian." Ed nodded, and Al asked

"Who's Remus?"

Tonks suppressed a flush and said, "He's a member of the Order. That's all you need to know at the moment." Al nodded expecting something like this, and suddenly Ed was hit by a sudden thought.

"Can you change your clothes appearance too, or just your features?"

"Just what I look like. Not my clothes. Why?"

Al nudged him. _**Thinking of Envy?**_ He asked Ed through their little thought/whisper communication. Ed nodded, _**Yup. Because apparently what he is can be natural, well his power anyways.**_

"So you need to look like an Amestrian right?" Winry asked. Tonks nodded.

"Okay." Said Winry, and started drawing something. Izumi leaned over, and started writing things in margins as labels. After about 5 minutes of them drawing, and the others staring, Winry presented Tonks with a complicated looking figure of a person.

"Umm… Alright, I'll try it." Tonks said, screwing up her eyes really hard. Her hair turned blonde, and her height grew. Her eyes turned brown, and her skin lightened. Pinned back short blonde hair finished it off, and before them stood Riza Hawkeye. Only not quite Her, as Winry's memory was foggy, and Izumi tried to make the drawing look less specific. Also Tonks didn't have that military air, the formality. Instead she was Tonks, who looked a lot like Hawkeye.

Ed burst into laugher.

"All we need now is a military uniform and it's perfect. She'd blend right in, as long as no one recognized her!" exclaimed Ed, hysterical with laugher. Al rolled his eyes (or at least the light in his armor darkened, the head tilted back, and he sighed loudly).

"Big Brother you're so weird. You do look almost exactly like a woman in our military did a few years back though." Tonks/Riza's eyes widened.

"What? This person's a soldier? Why her?" Tonks said, frantic, shifting back into her normal appearance. Izumi put a hand on her shoulder.

"Relax Tonks. Everyone those boys know is either in the military, or they helped them out while traveling. What more do you expect from a state alchemist?" Izumi said, saying the words 'state alchemist' with such loathing, Tonks backed away. She looked questioningly at Ed, but he shrugged and mouthed the word 'Later,' at her.

Shrugging, she led them out of the Alley, and down into a subway station.

--

--

--

**Part 2: ****Unexpected Departure**

--

--

They finally arrived at King's Cross. Tonks was surprisingly good with Muggle money, but she explained that her dad was Muggle-born, so she'd needed to know when she saw people from his family.

The Amestrians' bags were taken out of a small duffel Tonks carried (it had a bottom-less charm on it), and she waited outside for them to say their goodbyes.

Izumi gave him a big hug, and waved to him as she got on the train. The brothers shared a tearful embrace before pulling apart.

"Write me," said Al. Ed nodded.

"Tell Izumi to be nice to owls." With another hug, Al stepped onto the train.

Winry stood awkwardly, and Ed impulsively wrapped his arms around her. They embraced for a long moment, and finally pulled apart.

"Well, I'll be seeing you." Ed said, trying to act normal.

"Yeah, see you," Winry sighed. On impulse she stepped closer to him. "I'm really going to miss you Edward."

Winry stretched up to place her lips on Ed's, and when met with no response she pulled away and started walking back to the train, very red.

It took Ed a moment to process what had happened. When he accepted that the thing he had been wishing for, for weeks, had happened, he ran to catch up to her, cursing his stupidity.

"Winry!" he called. She turned slowly, with tears in her eyes. Ed stopped in front of her and kissed her. Winry was stunned, but began responding, opening her mouth to deepen the kiss. Ed's tongue crept in her mouth, and massaged hers, biting her lower lip, making her suppress a moan. When they pulled apart, it hurt to do so, and Winry brought her lips back to his for one last soft kiss before stepping onto the platform, giving Ed a small wave before entering the train. Ed saw the tears on her face and remembered his promise to her, _"The next time you cry, they'll be tears of happiness."_ He saw Winry look out from her window, and she gave him the largest smile he'd ever seen, tears dripping down her face.

Ed sighed, turned on his heel, and walked out of the station as the train pulled away.

--

--

--

--

_Yay!!! They're gone!!!_

--

**and yes, this chapter DID use to be 2 chapters, but I decided that everything was taking far too long, and so I made this chapter 2 parts.**

--

_Starts coughing up cotton balls Too…cough much… cough fluff…_

_Don't worry, Edry haters, that's the only non-letter fluff bit I'm going to do. Enjoy the pairing exempt rest of the story_


	11. News and New Faces

**WARNING: this chapter contains crossover relationships, Edry fluff, and spoilers for the Briggs manga arc**

_Me don't own anything that can be used in an acronym, just the plot of my acronym based story._

--

**Chapter 11: News and New Faces**

--

Since Tonks had work, and Ed couldn't Apparate, he was booked a room at the Leaky Cauldron.

Ed put half his wizard money into his suitcase, but he still the other half, and about 700 cenz for when he would go back to Amestris. Deciding to save about 500 of the cenz, Ed took walks around Diagon Alley, browsing through shops, and reading at small stalls that resembled coffee shops.

In a week he had read all his textbooks, had seen every store at Diagon Alley, knew nothing about You-Know-Who yet, hadn't seen Tonks at all, and was bored out of his mind. Ed had written home and hadn't received a reply yet.

This particularly made him sad because the kiss with Winry was haunting his most beautiful dreams, and he wanted to hear from her. There was only one place he hadn't gone yet- Knockturn Alley, but he avoided it because he always saw Malfoy hanging around down there, and bored as he was, Ed didn't want to fight with him.

So the next day Ed resolved to try out his first few real spells.

----------------------------

Ed woke up groggily, stretching his arms out. It felt good to simply sleep without worrying about people seeing his automail. He walked across to his little sink, and splashed his face. This woke him up, so he pulled on a black shirt and his red cloak.

Walking across the hallway and down a flight of stairs, Ed lazily strode over to the mailboxes. He checked his room number's box. Nothing.

_Whatever,_ thought Ed, _I'll check again tonight._

He went back up to his room and pulled out his _Standard Book of Spells Grade 1_. Ed opened it to a bookmarked page that had the spell for turning a match into a needle. Pulling out a matchbox, Ed selected a match. Placing it on the table, he ignored the voices in his head telling him that this violated equivalent exchange, and so wouldn't work.

_I have to believe that I can do this. I saw Tonks conjure up a sleeping bag out of thin air; I made that spiraling pattern of lines appear in the air. I __can__ do this, equivalent exchange or not!_

Ed silently read the incantation for the spell, _Talicari Memeth_, and read the pronunciation. Picturing in his mind what he was about to do, he pointed his wand at the match and said "_Talicari Memeth_"

The match at first showed no effect, but then slowly turned silver, and the saffron end became pointy.

Ed stared at it with wide eyes.

"I need to test it," he murmured, and clapped his hands together, and touched them to the needle. It deconstructed, proving that it was indeed metal (he used the "Destroy Steel" thing Scar uses). Ed was again, speechless.

If this worked, then who knows what went on with magical healing? Harry mentioned having to take a potion that re-grew all the bones in his arm, so what if there's something for recreating a body? Do they know about the gate? Do they have Philosopher's Stones? I need to ask Tonks next time I see her.

Falling back on his bed, Ed realized that he needed to get another pair of gloves. He was always ripping them when he transmuted his automail, and since transmuted gloves weren't as good as new ones, he needed another pair of gloves.

Setting off for Madam Malkins, Ed noticed a familiar group of red heads come one at a time out of a fireplace inside the inn. Staring for a minute, Ed decided to just ask Tonks about it later, not noticing Harry stumble out of the hearth. Ed took his newly purchased wand out of his pocket and was about to tap the bricks, when he suddenly remembered why the red heads had looked so familiar.

_They were in Tonks' picture! They're in the Order. What was their name? W-something. I'll just go ask I guess._

Turning around, Ed found himself face-to-face with the very family he was contemplating. A red headed and slightly pump woman smiled at him.

"I'm so sorry, my hands are full. Could you please open the wall?" Ed blinked, and remembered was he had been about to do.

"Right! That! I'm sorry, here we are," Ed apologized, tapping the bricks. The wall immediately rearranged itself to become and archway, something Ed could never stop staring at.

_Doesn't even need a transmutation circle. It just does that on it's own,_ he thought, remembering his previous searches for a transmutation circle on the bricks, and eventually finding none. Ed was jolted out of his thought when he realized the family was waiting for him to move aside.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I keep holding you up. I was just thinking about the archway and it's magic, and then I just got lost in thought. I'm so sorry to block you, and I should probably be moving now," Ed said frantically, trying not to appear like some stupid kid.

The woman held out her hand, "You're new aren't you. Muggle-born? Well this'll all seem more natural to you in time. I'm Molly Weasley. Would you like me to show you around?"

"Ah no, I've been around this Alley more times than is countable. Thank you for the offer though. Don't let me hold you up. I'm Edward Elric by the way," Ed replied, shaking her hand. He stepped aside to let the Weasleys (_So THAT was their name!_) pass.

"Ed? Ed! Hey Ed! Over here!" he heard a familiar voice calling. He looked up, and there was Harry, a girl with bushy brown hair, and another Weasley standing next to him, giving Harry confused looks. As Ed walked over, he could hear bits of their conversation.

"What? Harry who's this?"

"He's that guy I was telling you about, the transfer."

"When'd you meet him?"

Ed stopped in front of them, grinning at Harry.

"How's life?"

Harry smiled, "Fine. Where are your brother and Winry? And that one lady – I'm sorry I forgot her name –? Did they leave already?"

"Yeah, they left about a week ago. I've been staying at the Leaky Cauldron since the commute from Tonks' was waaay too long, and I would've been bored just staying there all day." Ed replied, suppressing a flush when he remembered Winry's farewell.

"You were staying with Tonks? Really? Weird. So do you know any more of the-"

"Harry, you might want to introduce your friends. As interesting as my life is, they won't get any of it if they don't have it in context," Ed interrupted jokingly.

Harry looked frantic, and made sure hid friends were till there. Fortunately they were, but they did look rather bored. Harry muttered a quiet "Sorry 'bout that," and stepped back.

"Ed, this is Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Ron, Hermione, this is Edward Elric. He's the new transfer that's starting this year." Ron raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"Wait, aren't you going into first year though? Normally people aren't considered transfers unless they're going into at least third-"

"He's in **our** year Ron," the girl (Hermione) cut him off. "He's transferring into 6th year."

Ron looked even more confused. "But he hardly looks like it! I mean come on, he's definitely not tall enough -" but was cut off by a glass fist punching him in the side of the face.

Instant playback:

Slow motion "Aren't you going into first year." _Wait, first years are 11 year olds. I don't look 11 damn you!!!_ Ed started to vibrate, rage building. "…Hardly looks like it…definitely not tall enough…" Ed (now remember this is slowed to 25 second long frames) quickly (adjective used while in slow motion) clapped his hands together and placed them on the window beside Ron. A glass fist erupted out of it and punched him in the face, knocking Ron over.

Playback ends:

Ed went into rampage mode.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE'D BE SQUASHED BY A MOB OF STAMPEDING FIRST GRADERS?!?!!? I AM NOT SHORT DAMN YOU!! I AM 16! I'M NOT TINY! OR A SHRIMP! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING NOT TALL ENOUGH TO BE SEEN?!?!?!"

Ed exploded; picking Ron up and throwing him (surprisingly gently) back onto the ground several times.

Harry yelled frantically, "Ed! If you don't stop you're going to kill him!"

Ed stopped, and let Ron lie on the ground and feebly protest Ed's claims.

"He wouldn't have died. I did that gently. I do actually have such a thing as control you know. _But if your Mom hadn't been __extremely__ nice to me_," Ed growled at Ron, making strangling motions with his hands.

Turning back to Harry he said, "Guess what? I have a wand now! And this morning I turned a piece of wood into a piece of steel with it! I defied friggin Equivalent Exchange! It's amazing!!"

Ed's voice was that of pure joy, and Hermione noted the special happiness given to defying "Equivalent Exchange".

_I need to ask him about that…_ she thought, helping Ron up. Ed helped her get Ron back on his feet.

"Sorry about that, but I'm not short. Anyways, I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist," Ed held out his hand to the space between the two of them. Hermione took it, and after a nudge from Harry, Ron did too.

"Hey, what's that mean? The Fullmetal Alchemist?" Hermione asked curiously. Ed froze.

_Shit. That was stupid. Now they'll want to know. Crap. Well, I told Tonks I'd tell her about State Alchemists when she finally got around to telling me about You-Know-Who so_…

Ed acted normal. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that. I need information in return, but if you want to know, then be there when Tonks brings some people from this 'Order' around to tell me what the hell is going on in this country." He looked at the door, ignoring the trio's stares.

"Hm…I guess I should fix that huh. The owner probably won't like it that I transmuted their window into a glass fist will they?" Ed said aloud, talking more to himself than to the others, though they looked up from their small conference about him.

Ed clapped his hand together, and touched the window. The fist sank back into the glass, and it became perfectly smooth, though dusty. As karma based apology, Ed transmuted the dust on the window into a stone ring. He saw a small white stone on the ground, and transmuted that into the ring. _I'll try to turn this into steel later. Winry might like it. Maybe one of them knows the spell._ Turning around, he saw the Ron stared at him in shock, Hermione with interest (she's checking him out – and goes unnoticed), and Harry with slightly widened eyes.

"Look, don't get all _How did you do that?_ on me. It was just simple alchemy. I know you guys don't have that, but that's all it was. Now does anyone you know a spell that just turns anything into steel?" Ed asked, impatiently, wanting to move on.

The young wizards still looked shocked, but Hermione said quietly "I do. Want me to do it for you, or tell you where I found it?"

"The second one."

"There's a footnote under the matches to needles spell that says it. It's pretty simple."

"Sweet, thanks," Ed said brightly. To his chagrin, they semmed to be staring at him again. He quickly checked both gloves to make sure he had them on. He did. His arm wasn't showing in his sleeve, and his leg was concealed.

_What the hell are they staring at?_

Then, Ed realized they weren't staring at _him_, they were staring into the shop behind him. Ed turned around and saw what it was.

Draco Malfoy was in the window staring out with total hatred, and when Ed looked back at the other wizards, he saw that they were mirroring his glare.

_Oh._

Hermione muttered, "Lets get out of here," and so the four left, Ron and Ed simultaneously flicking Malfoy off.

"So you've already had a run in with dearest Draco, have you?" Ron asked Ed, grinning at the mirrored extended finger.

Ed narrowed his eyes. "Yup. That bastard is worse than Mustang. At least Roy has good intentions; most of my hatred is boss-hate, but Malfoy. He's just - words fail me."

Ron laughed. "Know what you mean. When'd you meet him?"

"Didn't I tell you **any** of what happened after me and Dumbledore went to go see Slughorn?" Harry asked incredulously.

When met with blank stares, he launched into the story of their fight with Malfoy, giving them the story he and Ed had told Tonks. Harry felt bad about half-lying to his friends, but he assumed Ed had a reason for it, and so left stuff out. Ron burst into laughter when he heard the story, and a smile appeared on Hermione's face.

"Nice. Very nice. Good job Ed," Ron said. Ed raised both eyebrows in disapproval.

"Why mock him after he's already had an injured pride? That's lowering you to his level," Ed said with a bit of disdain. Ron looked at him incredulously, and was about to retort, when Harry stepped in.

"Look, we've spent five years with Malfoy. He deserves it. Trust me. Although you are right about lowering ourselves, we aren't quite at his level yet," said Harry in his peacekeeping voice.

Ed shrugged in admission, to which Ron grinned and Hermione nodded silently.

----

She had been keeping quiet because it was all she could do to stop herself from sighing. Ed was just so hot. His amber eyes were unnaturally luminous, and his hairstyle was very cute. She could tell he was strong by how good of shape she could tell he was in, and he didn't look short, just like a scaled down version of a 16 year old, and his clothes were uniquely cool, and he-

_Stop._ Hermione said firmly to herself. _Stop making yourself seem stupid. Don't get a crush on someone just because he hates Malfoy too, and is really hot, and seems really intelligentt, and- JUST STOP!_

Realizing she'd missed out on most of the conversation, Hermione came back to Earth just when Ed was waving good-bye, and walking into Madam Malkins. She gave him a small wave, and walked alongside her friends.

_I wonder if he has a girlfr-STOP!_

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yes!! YES! HAHA!!!!" Ed shrieked, delirious with joy. The owl he'd borrowed had returned with letters from both Al _and_ Winry, but also a second owl had brought him and additional message from Tonks. Ed screamed bloody murder, until almost knocked out by Tom the barman. He ran up to his room in happiness, and was about to begin ripping open the first letter, when suddenly Ed's joy vanished like a puff of smoke under a fan. _What if it's bad news? What if my situation seems trivial compared to their troubles? What if someone's died? What if Al's armor got screwed up? What if…What if… _

_What if Winry decided she made a mistake back at the station?_

The thought of new death, or more suffering hit him like sledgehammers to the chest, but the thought of Winry regretting their kiss was like a having his heart impaled on a piece of string and left to hang in the sun. Now wary and afraid, Ed opened the letter from Al.

_Dear Big Brother,_

_Everything is fine. Scar almost transmuted a piece of my armor off but he stopped as soon as he realized it was __**me**__ hiding in the shadows. The Führer has been trying to send soldiers here to recruit Izumi for State Alchemists, but things keep happening to the people he sends. I actually __don't__ know what happened, because I kept everyone under my sight for the rest of the day after the soldiers would come. Hohenheim is here by chance. Sensei saw him on a train, and brought him back. He says hello and wishes you luck at Hogwarts. Apparently he knows Rentanjutsu, and he rearranged the blood flow in Sensei so her little attacks would stop happening. I got to be her test subject for seeing how fit she was. I'm glad this body can't feel pain…_

_Winry called, and told us that the owl would be picking up this letter when she sent her reply. It might be arriving slightly late, because from what you told us, it took half a week for the owl to find us, and so it might be a while before you get your replies. _

_Good Luck to you, and please try not to kill that Malfoy guy,_

_-Alphonse_

Ed smiled, although the thought of his father made Ed's stomach churn. Yes, he was grateful to him for showing him that human transmutation was impossible and that he and Al actually didn't bring back his Mom, and he was also very glad that Izumi's attacks had stopped happening, but the old hatred still rose up.

Pushing the thoughts of the bastard aside, he was glad at his reply. The thought of Bradley trying to recruit Izumi was very bad, and the fact that Scar had probably almost transmuted Al's armor is pursuit of the soldiers wasn't very good either, but still. Everything had apparently worked out for the best. Putting aside his darkening thoughts, he reached for Winry's letter, hesitating.

_What if she doesn't love you? What if she's breaking up? You didn't really write her anything, but a letter is good right? What if-STOP!_ Ed screamed to his head, and tore open the envelope. A sword point resting against his heart, Ed started reading.

_Dear Ed,_

_I miss you. A lot. When I think of you, my heart starts beating so hard it's hard to describe and I start reddening and I feel empty, Ed. I feel as if a part of me has been taken away to where I can't follow. The truth is, I love you Edward Elric. I always have. I only just realized it when I left Central the last time before Briggs, but I know that I've been in love with you for a long time now. When I kissed you, I was so scared; I thought you'd reject me. But then you ran to me, and kissed me back. I felt as if, I had been lit up by the thousand torches. Your kiss was the single most exhilarating and wonderful experience of my life, and I can't thank you enough for it. I can't wait to see you in December, and my heart can wait that long. It has before, and it should still. _

_Loving you,_

-Winry Rockbell

Ed's eyes widened. Winry's words replayed through his head several times.

"_I love you Edward Elric…I miss you…your kiss was the most exhilarating and wonderful…loving you…"_

Ed's head spun so fast, he needed to sit down.

She loved him.

For a long time.

_We could have had so much more than we did before we had to part. It's three months before I see her again…She __**loves**__ me._ Feelings of regret and despair were soon overpowered by happiness, joy that he had never felt before in his life.

Dazed, Ed lazily began opening the letter from, Tonks. He was started to see only a few words on it, but it was the words themselves that brought him out of his euphoria.

_Weasel Work Wardens_

_Back Alley Cardboard Karate Storage Holding Outside Plissé's._

_10:0 amt_

_We find out what we want to know_

Ed's eyebrows rose at the obviously encoded message. Marcoh's research notes had been waaay harder than this. The Weasel Work Wardens stood for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The nonsense following was BACKSHOP, so they would meet at the back of the shop and 10:0 amp meant 1:00 am sharp, today. From what Ed had seen of the shop, the rest of the nonsense meant that they would probably be meeting near a back section that had to do with karate.

Ed looked at his watch. It was 11:30 pm. He still had a few hours to make up a few lies and decide what exactly he would tell the wizards. He knew not to say anything about Ishval or his automail or human transmutation or Al or The Gate of Truth. Ed decided that he would tell them about being recruited when he was 12, talk about the state alchemists, say a few things about the homunculi if needed (but nothing about Bradley, or "Father"), and explain basic alchemy. Ed already knew how to explain his own usage of alchemy; he'd just use the explanation Izumi gave him when he and Al had asked , all those years ago.

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

_and yes, I am terrible enough to start a crossover romance after supporting a canon couple. Because love triangles are fun._

_When Ron said 1__st__ year, Ed thought he meant first __**grade**__, as in 7 year olds._

_Like the last chapter, this one was originally 2 short chapters, but I think you'll agree that the story has __**got**__ to speed up. I'm sorry, I just like exposition._

_--_

Next: 

_We officially find out about this shady "You-Know-Who" character, and gain some insight into both Ed's abilitys, and some of the darker Order members._

_**Cheers!**_


	12. You Know Who

Chapter 12: You-Know-Who

_Me is still not owning anything made into an acronym, and just incase you forgot, this story is manga-based to chapter 81, and book based through DH._

**Chapter 12: You-Know-Who**

At 12:45 pm, Ed put on his Amestrian clothes, with a few additions to hide the automail. Turning on his shower and switching the little doorknob sign to "Do Not Disturb", Ed walked out of The Cauldron and through the arch to Diagon Alley. 

Ed walked guardedly down the street. He hadn't been inside WWW yet because it was new, and for fear of being recognized. Being memorable wasn't exactly his thing. But tonight, Ed shouldered through the door, and walked in.

It was a joke shop. There was candy, love potions, punching wands, fireworks, vanishing coins, and little stuffed animals. Anything and everything that could possibly be used to pull a magical prank was here plus more. Ed spied a map of Hogwarts, and grabbed it. It didn't show any secret passageways, but it had all the floors, classrooms, corridors, entrances to tunnels, descriptions of all of them, and what lay at ends of passages. 

Walking up to the counter, Ed bought the map, pocketing it, and heading for the back. Avoiding the stall of dark magic suppressants, Ed walked into a corner stacked with cardboard boxes, and leaned against one labeled "Karate Master Gum". He stared at his watch, and gradually his vision grew blurry, and eventually dozed off, suddenly awoken by the beeping of a nearby alarm. 

Ed cracked open his eyes, and seeing a group of people make their way conspicuously to the back of the shop, Ed quickly transmuted the wall to stretch across him and the boxes, making the corner come in more. Transmuting eyeholes for himself, Ed stared at the group walking towards his hiding place. 

He saw a young man with gray streaked brown hair and a prematurely lined face, enter with a woman with a rather round face, and dark red hair. Behind them was an Ishvalan looking man, with dark eyes instead of red; followed by a tall man with long greasy black hair, who resembled a large bat. Like the rest of the wizards, they wore long billowing robes. As the group blatantly searched the back of the shop, only the red haired girl made any attempt to try and seem like shoppers.

_In fact_, Ed noticed, _that tall guy looks like he wants to get in and out of here as fast as he can, in any way he can._

It wasn't until the woman spoke that Ed began to feel relaxed.

"Maybe the owl didn't reach him."

"Tonks, I'm sure it got to him. He might just be late."

"No, once you meet Ed you know that he's the person you expect to always be prompt and ready, except in extreme cases."

Ed shook his head at his paranoia, and was about to take down the wall when he realized the greasy haired guy was standing right in front of him.

"I beg to differ, Tonks," said the man softly, putting venom into the last name, "Many first impressions can easily turn out wrong. I have seen far too many of these cases than to count. Only a few times has this been differed and that was because my expectations weren't very high to begin with."

Infuriated at the man's assumptions, Ed clapped his hands and returned the wall to its original size, exposing himself to the store. He marched around the tall man to stand directly in front of him, trying to stop his face from contorting in anger.

"Well, you seem to be full of it don't you? I've been here for a while, but when a group of strange people I don't recognize comes in obvious search of me, my first instinct would be to find until I can figure out their motives. Especially with all these signs of terror that I know nothing about," Ed finished viciously. 

The man was simply smirking at him, eyebrows rising at his assault. Ed could see the lined man smile slightly, and Tonks burst into laugher.

"Now even you have to admit, Snape, that was good. Well done Ed, well done," laughed Tonks, changing her hair to her aqua Mohawk, face morphing into her normal one. The man lowered his eyebrows but continued smirking.

"It seems you have had experience in hiding, Elric. Perhaps you could explain that to us when we tell you all _our_ secrets," the man said; coal black eyes hardening in an almost habit-like way.

Ed bristled at this, but was slightly disturbed by the satisfaction, and note of appraisal in his voice. Had he just been judged? Did he do well? 

Just then, the man's stare caught his eyes, and they held eye contact for a short moment that dragged on for what seemed like ages. Ed could see calculation and doubt in the man's eyes, as carefully suppressed as were his own feeling of apprehension. In the moment, Ed felt as if something was pushing into his mind, images flitting across, but ones too heavily clouded for meaning. He concentrated on the formula for clapping his hands and transmuting a wall, blocking out the images with the transmutations. The moment passed, the man breaking contact with a shift of his eyes.

Turning to Tonks, Ed put on a face of mock confusion. "Oh Tonks, that note was terribly hard to decipher. It took me all of two minutes to figure it out! I was afraid I had the wrong place!" Ed said in sarcastic horror, then grinning. "Seriously, that was way too easy."

Tonks gave him a strange look. "Really? I didn't want you to go searching for some weird place, so I kept it relatively simple. We have this insane fear of our mail being searched."

"Like Mustang with phone lines."

"Sorry?"

"Oh, never mind," Ed, said quickly, remembering Breda's description of Roy answering Barry the Chopper on a military line. Just imagining Mustang calling Barry "Bunny" and harassing him about calling him at work, with Barry putting on a girlishly high voice, made him sick. 

"Anyways, that stuff was like a 2 year old's puzzle compared to other crap back home."

"Like?" asked the lined guy.

"Oh, just simple things like getting alchemical research notes out of something encoded as a cookbook, writing formulas in the form of travelologies, figuring out what incomplete transmutation circles read. Easy stuff like that!" Ed replied happily, as if these things really _were_ a piece of cake. Most of the adults were staring at him in utter shock. 

"Um…okay. So. We're going to Tonks' apartment since Grimmald Place isn't ours, and I don't think it'd be very pleasant for any of us to go there. Is that alright?" inquired the dark skinned man. 

Ed nodded, and noted the horribly sad expression that appeared on the lined man's face, and the look of concern that came over Tonks when she saw it. Seeing Ed looking over at her, she gestured for him to stand over by her. Gripping his shoulder, she tensed, and Ed felt a sensation akin to being sucked through a one-inch diameter pipe while doing a triple flip in midair. 

They landed in Tonks' apartment. To Ed's surprise he could see two new doors leading to bedrooms, a bookcase with a goblet of some liquid on it, several ingredients surrounding it, and a few bottles of drinks. The dark man's eyebrows rose, and he muttered aside to the lined man, "Someone desperately needs a drink huh." The other man nodded, and replied, "First day of full moon's tonight. Just hasn't come out of the clouds quite yet. Fitting, seeing as we'll be here a while."

Tonks conjured about four more chairs, and everyone sat down. 

"Everyone, this is Edward Elric. He's the Hogwarts transfer student, and the person that might be able to help us." Ed nodded at the group.

"Ed, this is Remus Lupin." Remus held out his hand, and Ed took it. 

"Nice meeting you Ed. Tonks talks about you enough. 

Ed grinned. "Thanks. She's mentioned you as well." Tonks cleared her throat.

"Moving on, Ed this is Kingsley Shacklebolt," the dark man smiled and nodded to Ed, "And this is Severus Snape." Tonks finished. Severus nodded at him, but otherwise made no other move or gesture to him. 

Ed looked aroung him, and saw that they were the only one's present.

"What, no Order member wannabe's? What about that Harry guy, he seemed pretty important?" Ed smirked, smug at the absense of the Golden Trio.

Severus smiled wryly. "Potter and his friends expressed their, ah, _wishes_ to attend, but we of the _Order_ decided against involving mere children."

"But you're involving me," Ed said. It was a statement, though the implied question hung in the air.

"Yes, we're involving you. But you are different than Potter and his friends. You seem to actually have some experience outside of one encounter with a Dark wizard every year. You're different," Severus ended, his contempt for Harry clearly showing.

Dismissing this, Ed asked the question he'd been wanting to know the answer to for AGES.

"Who is You-Know-Who?" 

The adults exchanged glances. Severus sighed, and after a moment of recollection he began, slowly at first while organizing his more darkened memories, then gaining speed. 

"The Dark Lord came into power about 20 years ago. At first he was simply obsessive about eliminating Mudbloods – witches and wizards born from Muggles with no related magic users. But then as a resistance grew against him, he simply grew to want power, his ambition growing until he would kill anything and everything in his way. The Dark Lord was very powerful. To be executed by him personally was in itself an honor, for it mean't he cared about you enough to make sure nothing went astray. He reached the peak of his terror about 15 years ago." Severus stopped to let his words sink in. 

Ed nodded for him to continue, concluding they were about on the same level of evil as "Father".

"Things were so bad that people stopped using his name, instead referring to the Dark Lord as You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You never knew if you were safe, next, who would be the next to die, who would be saved, or who you could trust.

"A few years before this peak of terror, Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix. It was an organization that stood against you know who, the only non-corrupt force standing in his way. After it was formed, You-Know-Who started weakening. His numbers were the ones being killed, and people had a slight bit more hope. But unknowingly, they also strengthened him. The Dark Lord now had a challenge, and a goal in his mind. He gave his own followers the name his gang had used at Hogwarts, the Death Eaters. They were trained harder than the previous, and then the numbers of the Order began to drop. The Death Eaters started targeting places that would cause purposeful chaos, or help thwart the resistance, instead of simply going on killing sprees. It looked like there would never be an end to his reign. 

"But then, the Dark Lord found out something. Something that made him go to a small house in Godric's Hollow. Something that ultimately became his downfall."

Severus stopped to catch his breath for he had been talking for a long time. There were more than hints of regret in his voice, and Ed could tell that he was also trying to collect himself slightly. 

"Going into the house, he killed the Order members inside, and then went to kill their son. Something went wrong in that murder. Instead of killing the boy, the Dark Lord himself was destroyed, not dead, but not alive either. The son survived, now bearing a scar as a result of the curse."

Severus paused for sinking in-ness. As he did Ed had a few thoughts.

"Who was the son? And if the Dark Lord was dead then why are people worried about him? And what's his real name anyways?" He asked, thinking out loud.

Snape's eyes narrowed at something unseen. 

"The son is Harry Potter. His parents were killed, his mother, Lily, dying to save him. That is why he survived. The name of the Dark Lord is _Voldemort._" Severus said bitterly, the name almost spat out. Leaving him to revel in his worsening mood, Remus continued. 

"Until two years ago, Voldemort was gone. Not dead. We know that now. But gone. By a series of things none of us quite understand, two years ago he got Harry to come to a graveyard with a fellow student. A Death Eater performed a ritual that, using Harry's blood, made him a new body, and gave him even more power. The other student was killed. 

"Last year, the wizarding world refused to believe that Voldemort had returned. But when the Minister saw Voldemort torturing Harry inside the Ministry of Magic, and found the innocent man they had blamed all Death Eater related incidents on killed, they finally admitted it. So now the world is scared again. That is the story of You-Know-Who, Ed. At least that's all we can tell you, because to tell you the full story would be to bring both Dumbledore and Harry here to explain things." Remus ended. 

There was a long silence. One thing Ed had found slightly disturbing was that when Severus told the story, he went very in depth on the side of the Death Eaters, but mentioned hardly anything about the Order. Remus on the other hand had done basically the opposite, focusing on things the "good" side had done. He wondered what Severus's story was. It was sure to be like everyone-else-he-knew's past. Dark and full of tragedy. 

It was also weird that the guy he had become casual friends with was a hero here, and had survived so much crap. 

_But then, if I told them the story of my life, they'd be pretty impressed too, considering all the shit I've been through in the last two years is more than Harry's had in his life._

Tonks was the first to come out of their separate thinking stupors. 

"So Ed, now that we've basically told you the story of many lives, why don't you answer a few questions?"

"Ah, quick question before we start. How old was Harry when the whole destroying Voldemort thing happened?" Ed asked, raising his eyebrow at the winces of the older wizards. _They're scared of a name? That's sad. Envy beat me half to death, his true form is a huge soul covered monster, and he started the Ishval war, but I don't wince every time I hear his name._

"He was one year old," replied Tonks.

Ed burst out laughing.

"Seriously? You mean, this guy, that killed hundreds of people, who everyone is so scared of that they flinch when they hear his _name_, was killed by a _baby_? That's hilarious!"

The adults stared at him, their incredulous looks conbining confusion, cold glares, and looking like they wanted to hit themselves upside the head.

_I mean come on, Envy's a psycho shape shifting paml-tree whose beaten me half to death, and his true form is a freakish corpse covered monster, but I can still say his __**name**_

Ed shook his head, to rid himself of the last chuckles, then took a breath.

"Sorry about that, but from my perspective –one whose nation has a long history of violence- you guys seem like you're overreacting. But that's probably just because I'm relatively used to war," Ed ended sadly, smiling wistfully into space.

Tonks was the first to emerge from the adults' mixture of shock, reverie, and interpretation.

"So Ed, we've told you everything we can, so do you mind answering some questions in return."

"Sure," replied Ed, "Equivalent Exchange." Kingsley gave Tonks a look, and Severus proceeded to take a bottle out of his robes as Kingsley spoke.

"This is Veritaserum. A truth potion. We put three drops into your mouth, and you'll tell us everything we feel like knowing about you, with heavy elaborations. Normally, we'd give this to you, and then interrogate you, but some of us," Kingsley shot a look at Tonks before continuing, "think this unnecessary. So instead you shall be receiving one drop of a less powerful version. So you can keep some things to yourself, but you won't be able to flat-out lie. Is that alright?" 

Ed knew he would be risking staying here if it wasn't so he nodded. Opening his mouth, Severus dripped in exactly one drop of a second potion. They waited a second, Ed becoming simultaneously annoyed and complacent. After a few moments Severus leaned forward.

"Now, what is your name?"

Ed rolled his eyes. "Edward Elric."

"What are the names of your parents?"

"Trisha Elric who's dead, and that bastard Von Hohenheim," Ed said, feeling a need to tell them little details about everything. However a part of his mind was fighting the potion, telling him that they didn't need to know about them.

"Where do you come from?"

"A country called Amestris." The rebel in his mind was telling him not to mention Resembool, or anything else. Right now it resembled General Armstrong strangling air.

"What other family do you have?"

"A brother," Ed said stiffly, already decided upon not mentioning Winry or Izumi unless asked, his will squashing the urges the potion was giving him to go into more detail.

"What is a state alchemist, and what is the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

This question sent many images to his head all at once. Scar destroying his automail, receiving his watch from Mustang, the people of Youswell kicking him out of Halling's Inn, pointing a spear at the Führer, listening to Riza tell him about Ishval, being called a "dog of the military", and ending with Kimbley telling him to "carve a bloody crest into Briggs". 

The urge to elaborate was definitely winning. 

"A state alchemist is an alchemist that is under the command of the military. They are ones recognized for their special achievements or skill, and have to obey whatever orders given to them in exchange for classified knowledge and research funding. Because the motto of alchemists is supposed to be 'Alchemists works for the people' people call state alchemists the 'Dogs of the Military' because they get information withheld from regular citizens. They say we've "sold our souls" to the State. When each State Alchemist has been certified as one they are given a special name. Mine is The Full Metal Alchemist. I'm the youngest state alchemist in history, since I became certified as a State Alchemist at the age of twelve, and am still the youngest alive today at age 16. I have a rank equivalent to a major in the army, but have no real power other than funding and the fact that if I join the military I am automatically promoted upwards from Major. I can be ordered to kill, and am required to obey, and the State Alchemists were used in the annihilation campaign of Ishval."

Ed stopped. He hadn't been going to say that much, but since it was all meaningless military crap, it didn't matter. The General in his head had defeated the potion, for he had said nothing that would be of actual value to an attack, and he could have said much more. 

As an afterthought Ed added, "Also, they only accept you if you are an Amestrian. No foreigners." 

This was not quite legally true, but in Ed's cynical mind, he knew that the homunculi would only allow Amestrians to be a part of their human WMDs. 

Turning away from his truth-logged thoughts, he saw the wizards staring at him. Ed waited for a minute and finally said, "I can feel this wearing off, so if you have more questions to ask me, you might want to save your bewilderment at my country's government for when you discuss what I've just told you." 

_Crap,_ Ed thought, _I wasn't going to be __that__ outspoken in my impatience! Or tell them I knew they would go to talk! Damn potion…_

Even as Ed was cursing the chemical beginning to wear off in his mind, the wizards were trying to process all of what they just heard. Remus recovered first, mind rushing as he tried to remember what they were going to ask afterwards. He randomly asked the first thing that came to his mind.

"Why does your brother wear that armor?" 

Ed froze in shock. The potion in his head was telling him to explain everything, but the rest of his mind was fighting hard. 

_Don't tell them! Then they can use that against you __**too**__. Too many people are already using that to manipulate you! Don't tell them!_

Then another voice popped into Ed's head. It was silky smooth, and soft.

_**You can tell them Edward. It's all right. Tell them everything.**_

Why? How can I trust them? I can't. Not yet. They'll try to get involved. It'll be bad.

_**But you can Edward. No one will use it against you. They could even help you.**_

_No…they will…I know it…_ His voice was fading, the other growing stronger.

**Think about your brother Edward. Don't you want to help him? They can. So tell them. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them.**

The wizards watched Ed freeze in shock and stayed frozen for a while. His eyes were closed, and contrary to Kingsley's suggestions, Severus could not break into Ed's mind. 

_Also,_ Severus thought to himself, _I've tested the boundaries of his mind when we made eye contact. They're unusually strong. Far stronger than any other student's has been. I can usually always tell when one is lying, but this time I couldn't. Strange. He probably has much to hide._

Tonks stood in front of Ed, watching his inner turmoil. She could tell he was resisting the potion. Glancing up at Severus, she knew it would be impossible for him to tell even a single lie. 

_Snape was just too good of a potion maker,_ thought Remus and Kingsley at the same time. Finally Ed's eyes snapped open. He said,

"My brother has a disease. It is highly contagious and spreads through skin contact, but no other way at all. So I transmuted the armor to fit his body and added in a type of substance that would slowly, over time, begin to counter-act the disease. So he has to wear that armor everywhere. Anything else?"

The wizards were astounded. First the state alchemists and now this. 

_No wonder he tried to resist the truth potion,_ they all thought simultaneously. Kingsley stood up, and held out his hand to Ed.

"Well, it seems we have nothing left to question you about. You leave for Hogwarts this coming Monday, and since it's Friday, you should get prepared." 

Ed shook the hand offered to him. Severus also stood to leave. 

"I'll see you in 3 days time Elric. Enjoy the rest of your summer."

Ed was put back my Snape's abruptness and held out his own hand. 

"Um, that's nice, but I can't imagine when. Call me Ed though. It's easier." 

Snape glared at the offered hand like it would burn him, and after a slight shake, strode out the door.

"I'll see you in 3 days Edward."

The flat emptied pretty quickly. Eventually, only Remus, Tonks, and Ed were still sitting in Tonks' living room. Remus rose to his feet, rocking slightly to steady himself. He looked out the window. The sky was dark, but the sky was cloudy. Before the moon had a chance to come out, Remus beckoned to Ed, who walked over to the potion which Remus was standing next to. 

"Ed, this potion is called Wolfsbane. It makes werewolves harmless after their transformation, and also gives them control over their own mind. Do you follow me?" 

Ed nodded, slightly confused. "I get it, but why are you telling me this?"

Remus looked out the window, and then at a second watch on his right hand. It had dozens of moons around the outside, and the single hand looked like a claw. The hand was pointed exactly a quarter of a millimeter away from the watch's full moon, though not quite on it. The hand was flashing slightly. 

Remus looked up, grabbing the potion, and looked deep into Ed's eyes before downing it in one swig.

Ed was caught off guard.

"Why'd you drink that Remus? It's not like you need it," Ed paused a moment. "Do you?"

Remus gestured out the window, and backed away from Ed and Tonks, handing Tonks his cloak, shoes, and socks. He then looked at the ceiling.

"Yes Ed I needed it. I'm a werewolf."

Remus waited, anticipating the sharp sting of rejection, a shocked look, a bolting figure, or more spiteful words. Ed's eyes widened, but nothing else. Remus braced himself in preparation, remembering Ron's words when he had tried to heal his leg, _"Get away from me werewolf!"_

But no sound came. Ed blinked, and then relaxed. 

"Okay, sure. Why not? Besides you took that potion so _Que Cera Cera_. Anyways, if I were to be judgmental and stupid about you, I'd need to be like that about Al, and Ling, and Mei Chan, and Martel, and Izumi, and Mustang, and Hawkeye, and both Armstrongs, and basically everyone I've ever known. So I can't freak just because you turn into a wolf a few nights each month," Ed finished, realizing his speech had gone on longer than he'd wanted.

Remus felt tears sting his eyes, and he blinked them away. He was the 6th person to receive him so –well Pettigrew didn't exactly count, so really the 5th- and it touched him. Impulsively, he walked over to Ed and gave him a brief on armed embrace. 

Tonks was temporarily highly jealous of Ed, but then remembered Remus' straightness.

Backing away again, Remus looked towards the moon and felt the transformation begin. The familiar feeling of a strange out-of-body lucidness coupled with the normal blankness of mind and feral thoughts sweeping over his brain. He felt himself grow taller, and fur cover his flesh. He re-experienced the pain and elation of the bones growing, and rearranging to form his tail, and of his limbs becoming those of a wolf. 

When the sensation of having his face pulled through a thin tube after falling asleep occurred, he knew he was completely transformed. The face always turned last, and so Remus looked up. Ed looked fascinated.

Ed had watched Remus' transformation with curiosity, but was now totally engaged by the sight of it. There was both a beauty and an order to it, but also something terrifying and wild. He waved at Remus, and got both a small nod and a tail wag in return. Tonks pulled Ed's shoulder softly, and led him out of the room, explaining the Remus like to be left in peace during the full moons.

"But then why did he want me to see that?" Ed demanded.

"Because he wanted you to trust him," Tonks stated simply, pushing him towards a fire. She threw some powder into it, and gestured to Ed, knowing that he'd experimented previously with Floo powder. Ed turned around before stepping into the flames.

"What about Remus?"

"I'll take care of him. He'll be fine. Now, you go to Hogwarts in five days, correct?"

Ed nodded. It was the 27th of August, and the first day was the 1st of September. 

"So this is basically what's going to happen. The Hogwarts Express leaves at 11 o'clock AM, so we'll be coming to get you at 9 AM sharp. If you aren't ready, we're waiting 10 minutes, and if you aren't done by then, we're leaving you. Got that?" Tonks finished sharply. Ed raised his eyebrows.

"Wow Tonks, I haven't seen you this professional ever. How long did you need to practice that speech for before it pleased Moody?" he smirked. 

Tonks grinned. "A few hours. We won't actually leave you. Instead we'll just go up and annoy the hell out of you until you're packed."

"Hey, um, who is this 'we'? You obviously, but who else?" Ed said, slightly confused. 

"Remus and me. At least if he feels up to it, he'll be there. Remus is always rather ill during the full moon, at least when he's a human," Tonks said wistfully, almost forgetting Ed was there. Pulling herself back into reality, "So yeah, that's the plan. See you in five days."

Ed waved, and with a cry of "The Leaky Cauldron!" he stepped into the fire, wondering if he really deserved being worthy of Remus' trust after he had just lied about the biggest thing in his life.

_Thank you, _PrincessVictoriaAnnMacbeth_ for your idea of Ed laughing at the Order's fear of Voldemort. That in itself made this chapter worth writing, even if it was waaay too long and boring, and plot-less (is it so obvious that I hate my writing?)_

_Okay, so about the whole Diagon Alley battle thing, some people found some plotholes in it, so I say this:_

_The Ministry didn't go after them, because in Diagon Alley under aged magic allowed for the testing of products (like buying wands, testing the quality of potion ingredients, etc), so the Trace didn't register Harry and Malfoy's spells._

_Yeah, that's my excuse._

_**Even more**__ exposition! I promise it will end next chapter! Yes I know this story has utterly no point yet, but it will next chapter!! (why not just skip this chapter then?) shut up…_

_Preview of next chapter:_

_Ed stepped onto the Hogwarts Express…_

…_and all the fangirls screamed as he froze at the door looking back over his shoulder in a sexy dramatic pose._


	13. The Ride to Hogwarts

Chapter 13: The Ride to Hogwarts

_I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, and I obviously don't own the dialogue I lifted directly from _Half Blood Prince_. However, I happen to own my plotline (HAHAHAHA!! THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!! I WIN!!)_

_Warning: there is badly written and pointless Edry in this chapter. I apologize beforehand, and advise that you all skip it._

--

**Chapter 13: The Ride to Hogwarts**

_--_

_Why do wizards use trains? Not that I mind, - trains are something familiar - but couldn't we just come by Floo powder, or some equally magical way of transportation? _

These thoughts rushed through Ed's head as he waited for his escort to King's Cross. He had been packed for weeks, not having much stuff, but took the opportunity of the last few days to do his laundry, organize all of his stuff, make extra precautions for his automail, turn the ring for Winry into steel (he'd found the spell for it), and clean his wand.

That morning he had gotten up early, and after taking a shower, pulled on his boots, normal pants, his long sleeved black shirt, and familiar red cloak. Ed refused to wear wizard clothes unless he absolutely needed to. As cold as Britain was, they were hot (as in warm), and also slightly uncomfortable. Ed quickly brushed and braided his hair, antennae sticking up. Packing the few things still in his room (and a few things that weren't his), he sat motionless on his bed in the last 7 minutes before Remus and Tonks arrived. Then, getting impatient, he brought his trunk downstairs, set it down on a table, and checked to see if he had mail.

To his delight, there was a letter from Winry. Ordering a water (he didn't want anything even slightly alcoholic right before going to a school) he opened the letter and began to read.

_Dear Ed,_

_I hope this reaches you before you leave for your school. Your letters have been interesting, and although they do dull the pain of your absence, I still miss you more than ever. I wish you didn't keep me in the dark about the whole You-Know-Who business, but you probably have an okay reason. I just don't want to be a hostage again, okay? Anything Else is fine, but please, not that again._

Ed grinned at the crappy attempt at a joke.

_This will probably seem like something a stupid girl with a crush would say, but please don't forget about me when you get to that school. If you do I will be heartbroken, and come beat you over the head with a wrench (even worse than usual). Keep that in mind when you start to make friends. I love you more than I could ever say, so don't get injured at Hogwarts, and more importantly, don't screw up your automail. Find a way to bring your bodies back, and never give up hope. _

_Love,_

_Winry_

Ed smiled at Winry's humor, cringing when she mentioned beating him with a wrench. He put the letter with the others inside his trunk, and right as he finished his drink, Remus and Tonks walked in the front door.

"Ready Ed?" Remus asked. Ed nodded.

"Then lets go," Tonks sighed wearily. "I can't wait to finally get some rest."

With that she grabbed Ed's arm, and they Apparated away, landing in a small phone booth inside an empty tube station next to King's Cross.

After Remus joined them, the three walked to the larger train station, and soon reached the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10.

"Right, here we are. This is how you get to Platform 9 and Three Quarters," instructed Tonks. "You run straight at the wall between Platforms 9 and 10, and don't do anything to prevent yourself from crashing. Got it?"

Ed nodded apprehensively. Loading his trunk onto a nearby trolley, he began jogging toward the barrier. Watching the wall coming toward him, he closed his eyes and broke into an all-out run, pushing his automail to the limits. He opened his eyes to see a brick wall right in front of him, and then felt a cold tingle go through the parts of his body that touched metal, and then all he could see was mist.

Blinking, Ed walked forward a ways, and swiped his hand in front of his face. As if sensing his irritation, the swirling whiteness moved out of his line of vision to merge behind him, revealing a red train with the words "The Hogwarts Express" on it, and a large sign saying "Platform 9 and Three Quarters".

The alchemist stepped forward in awe, seeing hundreds of other people around him, most in robes, some in normal clothes, all with trucks like him, some with caged animals, others had wands out, and most were either loading onto the train or saying their goodbye to their parents.

It suddenly hit Ed that this was real. He was actually going to a magical school, and that the brief bits of magic he'd performed was actually taught somewhere. It made him miss home; almost wishing he had people to wave goodbye to as he left. Almost.

Ed was jarred out of his thoughts when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Twisting around, he saw Tonks was standing next to him, and behind her he saw Remus stumble out of the mist, bumping into Tonks. Tonks burned red, and Ed thought she saw her aqua blue hair flash pink for just a second before returning to it's normal shade of ocean.

"Sorry Tonks," mumbled Remus, and he turned to Ed.

"Right, Ed. This is where we leave you. When you get off the train, get into one of the horseless carriages, and it'll take you to the castle. Don't follow the rest of the students into the Great Hall. Instead wait for a moment, and Severus will come get you. You do remember Severus right?" Remus added at the end of his little speech.

Ed nodded. "Yeah, he was the greasy haired tall guy who had some connection to the Death Eaters, right?"

Remus smiled at Ed's description, and nodded. Tonks turned Ed around to face her, and surprised him by giving him a big hug.

"Good luck Ed," she whispered into his ear, slowly letting go. Ed smiled, and held his hand out for both her and Remus, the two shaking it in turn.

_I'm going to miss them,_ Ed realized. _Maybe I'll see them around sometime this year._

Giving the two a mock salute, Fullmetal lifted his trunk off the cart rather easily, and walked onto the train.

--_Parody--_

For some ungodly reason, Ed twisted around at the last minute to survey the station around him; some invisible wind whipped his hair around his determined face.

"KAWAII!!" screamed a bunch of newly made Edo-fan girls.

"Shit! They're everywhere!!" Ed cried, and quickly lugged his truck into the train and disappeared into the corridor.

--_End of Parody--_

Wisely choosing not to pause for aesthetics, Ed walked into the car and surveyed the corridor around him. He noticed that this train had small compartments instead of just a full car, so he walked along looking for one that wasn't crammed with people. Finally he saw one containing only two people, both looking like they were about his age. Ed slid open the door. The occupants looked up, startled. Ed gave them his normal sarcastic grin.

"Hey, can I sit in here? Everywhere else is either full, or full of eleven-year-olds," Ed said. Suddenly he recognized the girl from the robe shop. "Hi! I met you at Madam Malkins! You're Luna right?"

Luna smiled brightly and nodded, the guy looking confused.

"Yes, you're Harry's friend, the transfer. Sit down before Nargles get into your hair," Luna said distantly.

Not liking the sound of these "Nargles", Ed hurriedly sat, sweeping a hand across his head and holding out the other to the guy. "My name's Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. I'm a transfer student here. Who're you?"

The guy seemed slightly more tentative, but held took Ed's hand to be polite.

"N-Neville Longbottom," he stuttered, nervous. Ed half-grinned at him, and stretched out, flexing his automail shoulder, while still being careful so that Neville and Luna wouldn't see the metal limb.

The three sat in silence, the train still not moving. Then Neville spoke, seem having just plucked up the courage to do so.

"Hey Edward,"

"Call me Ed,"

"R-right Ed. What year are you transferring into?"

"6th year."

"No way!!" Neville's eyes were bulging at this point, and he jumped up. "You're 16? You don't look like it at all!"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING AS SHORT AS A 5 YEAR OLD??" Ed exploded, jumping up.

As if right on cue, the train started moving, and the two boys sat back down. Luna put her magazine down again, saying softly, "Neville, I think Ed might be slightly self conscious about his height. But if he was just scaled up a few inches, he'd look like a 6th year-"

"Damn right I would," Ed grumbled, arms crossed and staring out the window. After being elbowed by Luna once, Neville slowly turned to Ed.

"Hey Ed, I'm sorry for-"

"Forget it, it's fine. Well actually it isn't because I'm _not_ short, but you don't need to apologize," Ed replied, turning to face the other occupants of the car. The silence resumed.

The compartment door opened, to reveal Harry. Luna and Neville's faces brightened considerably and after a moment of "Finally!"s (apparently Harry had left for a while), the newcomer sat down next to Ed…

…And just noticed him.

"Hey, Ed! What are you doing here? Nice cloak," Harry exclaimed, realizing his new friend was in his compartment. Ed turned and grinned at Harry.

"Well seeing as I'm going to Hogwarts it'd be kinda hard for me not to be on this train, and since these two were cool enough to let me in, here I am!" Ed replied brightly.

"Awesome!" Harry laughed. "Ron and Hermione will be here soon, they have prefect stuff to do."

"Prefect? What's that?"

Harry, Neville, and Ed started talking animatedly about school, Quidditch, and other random stuff, mostly Ed asking questions and the other two answering them enthusiastically, Luna sometimes adding in a cryptic comment.

After about five minutes the door opened once again, and instead of Harry's other friends, they saw a group of giggling girls. They bickered amongst themselves for a moment, all becoming increasingly more annoying by the minute. Blushing furiously, one girl stepped slightly into the compartment, ignoring everyone but Harry.

"Hi, Harry. I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane. Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with _them_." Her stage whisper told Ed loads. Luna and Neville were obviously unpopular. Ed raised his own eyebrows at her, as well as Harry.

"They're friends of mine," Harry replied coldly.

"Oh. Oh. Okay" said the girl, looking rather surprised as she withdrew out of the doorway.

Luna raised her head to look at Harry.

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us."

"You are cool," Harry said firmly. "None of them were at the Ministry. They didn't fight with me."

Neville and Luna beamed, Ed feeling oddly left out.

"That's a nice thing to say," replied Luna, returning to her magazine.

"We didn't face _him_ though," said Neville. "You did. You should hear my Gram-"

"Um, can I get a footnote here?" Ed interrupted. The other occupants turned to look at him. "Is this the time when Voldemort came back, and the Ministry was acting stupid, and that Order member got killed? Sorry, I only just heard a little bit about it from Remus, so it's kinda hard to follow you guys."

Harry's eyes darkened. "Yeah, it's that time," he muttered, and silence followed.

"Hey Fullmetal," Luna said softly after a few minutes, Ed jerking around to look at her startled. _No one but military people have ever called me that. I really need to break this titles giving habit of mine. Damn military…_

"Yeah?"

"Where'd you transfer from?"

"Um, nowhere really. I was an alchemist before this, and then this summer I got the letter. Why?" Ed asked nervously.

"Oh no reason," Luna said innocently.

Harry cocked his head to the side. "Fullmetal? Why'd she call you that?"

Ed half-chuckled, a tiny smile appearing for a fleeting instant on his face.

"Oh, when I introduced myself to them, I used titles, so yeah. Because I am: Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist." Ed said, giving a dramatic bow after saying his title.

Harry and Neville laughed, Harry more than Neville. Neville seemed to have a lot on his mind, because no sooner did the laughter die down then he had yet another question.

"So um, what's an alchemist? Can you show us some alchemy?"

Ed smiled, rolling his eyes. "Alchemy is basically just science and formulas. You take something, and make it into something made up of the same substances as the first thing. You can't make something out of nothing, unlike magic. I'll show you, but since I have nothing to write with, I'm going to do a way that only a few people know how to do, so don't try it," Ed said, searching his pockets for something he could transmute.

Finding a small rock, he clapped his hands together as if in prayer. The other occupants of the room felt a rush of energy come towards him, as he touched the rock. A flash of light, and where the rock had been there was a small statue of the Hogwarts Express. Ed did it again, and the statue turned into a gigantic beast covered with what looked like skulls, and repeated it one last time, decomposing it.

Ed looked up, and saw the occupants of the compartments staring at him, as well as two people standing at the compartment door. Even Luna, who looked as if she never got surprised in her life, had her mouth gaping open. Harry was the first to speak.

"What was that second statue Ed?"

Ed looked at him, eyes hardening, and it was at that moment that Harry found mirrored in Ed's eyes, the same look of sadness, suffering, and wise-beyond-years-ness that he felt, only much more potent and deep.

"It was Envy," was the alchemist's soft reply.

One of the two people in the doorway coughed, and Harry spun to see his two best friends standing there in front of him.

"Ron! Hermione! You guys are done with your prefect stuff then?"

"Wish the lunch trolley would hurry up, I'm starving," Ron said, obviously trying to disguise his awkwardness.

Ed smiled nervously at the two of them. "Hey, I met you guys that day in Diagon Alley right? You're Ron and Hermione yes? I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. Or just Ed. How're you doing?"

Ron's eyes lit up when he remembered the violent comrade he had joked with about Malfoy, and Hermione blushed, Ed looking just as good as the last time they'd met.

Ron collapsed into the seat beside Harry, greeting the other members of the compartment as Hermione settled in nervously next to Ed.

"Guess what?" Ron said, turning to Harry. "Malfoy's not doing prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins, we saw him when we passed."

Ed scowled upon hearing the other boy's name, omitting his confusion as to its context as Harry straightened.

"What did he do when he saw you?" the scarred boy asked.

"The usual," Ron said, flicking off the air. "Not like him, though, is it? Well – _that _is" – Ron flicked the air off again – "but why isn't he out there bullying first years?"

"Dunno," replied Harry.

"Maybe he preferred the Inquisitorial Squad," added in Hermione. "Maybe being a prefect seems a bit tame after-"

"Alright hold on a second!" Ed interrupted, not knowing what the _hell_ the wizards were talking about. "Help me out a second. First, what is a prefect, second, what do you mean by 'other Slytherins', and third, what the _hell_ is an Inquisitorial Squad?"

The wizards looked at each other, and deciding to explain the Squad first, launched into an explanation of Umbridge's regime and what she did.

Ed had just thought for the third time that these wizards had no idea what a hard-ass teacher was, when the compartment door slid open again, and a younger girl stepped inside.

"I'm supposed the deliver these to Neville Longbottom, Harry P-Potter, and Edward Elric," she stammered, holding out three scrolls of heavy paper, her eyes looking up to meet Harry's before blushing tremendously.

_I have never been so glad to be him_, Ed thought, wincing when he remembered all the stares he'd gotten because of his fame back home.

The three took the scrolls addressed to them. Utterly bewildered, Ed began to read his.

_Mr. Elric,_

_I would be most delighted if you would join me of some lunch in compartment C._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Horace Slughorn_

"Who's this Slughorn guy?" Ed asked, expecting that this was yet another thing he had yet to be introduced to.

"New teacher," said Harry. "I suppose we'll have to go, won't we?"

"But what does he want me for?" asked Neville, obviously terrified.

Ed put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "None of us really know, but that doesn't matter so much."

The three headed down the corridor, all attracting stares from everyone. Ed wondered at first why everyone was gawking at them so much, but then saw Harry with his head down walking as fast as he could to the compartment. Looking around him, Ed saw that a slightly smaller number of (but just as curious) faces were looking at him as well.

When the group reached compartment C, they saw that they were not the only ones invited to Slughorn's little group.

"Harry, m'boy!" exclaimed an enormously fat, bald man. The old guy had an immense silver walrus mustache, and was wearing velvet robes. The large sphere had jumped up, filling the compartment more than he already had. "Good to see you, good to see you! And you must be Mr. Longbottom!"

Neville nodded, looking frightened.

"And, you must be our new transfer, Mr. Edward Elric! Have a seat now, have a seat, I've heard good things about all of you!"

There were old two more empty seats, so Ed leaned against the compartment door, nonchalantly holding onto one of the upper handles as Slughorn apologized profusely about the lack of seating.

"So sorry m'boy, do forgive me! Now, do you know everyone?" the professor asked. Ed looked around at the other occupants. There was a tall dark skinned boy whose features vaguely resembled Envy's who looked about Ed's age, two bored looking guys obviously older than the sixth years, and squished into a corner next to Slughorn Ed vaguely recognized Ron's younger sister.

"Well, seeing as I'm a transfer I doubt I'd know anyone," Ed said quietly. Harry and Neville grinned at him, and the corners of the Envy-esque guy's mouth twitched upwards slightly.

"Oho, some humor eh? Well, Blaise Zabini is in your year, of course-" Blaise nodded at Ed but dutifully ignored his companions, as did they.

"This is Cormac McLaggen, perhaps you've come across each other, Harry-?" The tall guy raised an acknowledging hand, and received nods back at him.

"-And this is Marcus Belby, and _this_ charming young lady tells me that she knows you, Harry!"

Ron's sister smiled. "I'm Ginny Weasley. I'm pretty sure you know Ron, right Edward?"

Ed nodded, uncomfortable with all these people his own age.

As Slughorn droned on, talking about meaningless shit while handing out food, Ed gathered that the people invited were there either because they were connected to someone famous or influential, or they were picked specially for something unique about them. Ed zoned out right about when Slughorn started going on and _on_ about Harry, coming back into reality when a short confrontation between Ginny and Blaise, but went back to staring out the window until Slughorn called his name.

"Ah, Edward, the new mystery," Slughorn began, and Ed quickly uprooted himself from mentally reviewing spells to look at Slughorn.

"Huh? Mystery? What's so mysterious about me?" Ed asked, caught off guard.

Slughorn chuckled. "Hogwarts hasn't had a transfer with no previous magical training since before _Dumbledore_ attended the school, and you think you aren't a mystery?"

"Um, well, I hadn't exactly known that sir, why is that?" Ed asked uneasily.

"Everyone is marked down from birth, and so come when they are eleven! It is rare that someone develops magical powers overnight! Normally our transfers come from Bobatons, or Durmstrang, or were previously home schooled! But you, you just suddenly popped up, with no history whatsoever, and I have heard that what you can do has never been seen by any-"

"Sorry to disagree with you, but one, where I come from, alchemy is common, and two, I may not have had training in magic, but my sensei in alchemy taught me everything I needed to know about alchemy, and it was my own mistakes that taught me the stuff I wanted to find out. There is no real mystery about me," Ed ended, trying to cap off all discussion about him.

Slughorn stared at him for a while, as did the rest of the compartment until Blaise asked quietly, "And where exactly _are_ you from, Elric?"

Ed met the other boy's eyes, then looked out the window. "From far away, from a country ravaged by war."

The sadness with which he spoke made Slughorn presumable think twice about continuing his interrogation, and droned on for the rest of the ride with stories of meeting famous people whom Ed knew nothing about.

Finally, it was getting dark, and Slughorn released the students back to their compartments, booming something about lamps and robes. Ed walked back to the compartment with his pseudo-friends, watching with slight interest as Blaise gave him a polite nod, he sent a filthy look at Harry, which was returned with equal venom.

_What is the deal with these people?_ Ed thought. _They ride so much on prejudice._

The alchemist pretended to listen to his companions' conversation, and barely noticed when Harry left, following the direction that Blaise had gone.

Upon reaching the compartment, the group changed into their robes (Ed frantically trying to hide his automail), and spent the rest of the time talking about what classes they would have, bitching about teachers, and wondering what House Ed would be put in. So far, Ed could tell that they all expected him to be a Gryffindor like most of them, though Ed personally didn't see anything wrong with any of the Houses (though he knew he'd never be in Hufflepuff.

The train pulled into the station, and the group left their trunks on the train, walking out into the moonlight, as carriages pulled by demonic looking horses, pulled up. Ed walked up to one, stroking it gently, and marveling at the twisted beauty of the corrupted Pegasuses. Seeing his pseudo-friends climb into the carriage his steed, was pulling Ed backed up to look at them.

"Hey, Remus told me to take one of the horseless carriages to the castle. Where are they?" he asked.

The group gave him weird looks.

"Um, Ed. All these carriages are horseless." Hermione said. Ed raised an eyebrow.

"Right, because the demonic looking, twisted, underfed, half dead, winged horses pulling the carriages are invisible. Sure," Ed drawled sarcastically. "Seriously though. Where are they? I kind of need to be there on- what are you all staring at?" Ed demanded impatiently, being tired.

The group of wizards were staring at him in shock, all wondering how he could see the thestrals.

Finally Luna spoke up. "The horses are called thestrals. They're very beautiful creatures, though in a dark sort of way. Hardly anyone can see them; so most people refer to these carriages as horseless. Come and get in before they leave you behind, Ed."

Ed nodded, and climbed into the carriage, sitting on the seat next to Hermione, with Luna across from him. Hermione tensed at him being so close to her, then told herself to stop being an idiot and relax. Ed looked at the view of the castle as the carriages moved, oblivious to the stares of his companions.

The wizards exchanged glances, all of them thinking the same thing.

_Who did Ed see die?_

--

--

--

--

_And yes, I DO realize it took 13 chapters go get Ed on his f-ing train, but I happen to like exposition. Don't worry, a plot WILL appear. In about a while… Maybe after 10 more chapters… _

_I think I'm exaggerating…_

_--_

_You people who are strange and don't know these things, a tube station is a subway station (my unofficial beta got confused when she read that, so I'm telling you guys)._

_--_

_Also, even though you must think that I'm just naturally brilliant at composing these pieces of dialogue, half of it was lifted from _Half Blood Prince_. Again, JK Rowling originally wrote that __not__ me (sadly enough)._


	14. Sorting

--

--

**Chapter 14: Sorting**

--

The carriage wheeled around the curve and the castle was illuminated. Ed's eyes widened unconsciously. The school was huge, beautiful, and radiated in power. The wizards smiled at the sight of their school. The carriages stopped in front of the school, and the group walked to the front.

Hermione turned to Ed. "So Ed, this is the Entrance Hall-"

"I'm supposed to wait here for Severus, then," Ed cut her off, remembering Remus' instructions. Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows.

"Severus?" they said simultaneously.

Ed ignored them, turning back to Hermione. "I'm sorry, what were you about to say?"

Hermione's cheeks reddened a shade, and continued, "If we go to the right, with the rest of the students, we enter the Great Hall. That's where we eat our meals, and are told major announcements. We're going to go ahead on in there, but wait here if that's what you were told to do."

Ed nodded, and noticed how flush Hermione looked. "Hey, are you okay? You look like you might have a fever or something." He lifted his automail hand up to her forehead, knowing the metal would have a cooling effect through his glove. Hermione stiffened, and relaxed when the hand retreated, and Harry and Ron's concerned faces came into view.

"I'm alright. Lets go, I'm hungry is all," she reassured them.

Accepting her excuse, the wizards filed into the Great Hall, leaving Ed leaning against the wall, trying not to be trampled by the crowd. After a few minutes, he saw a batlike figure come into his line of sight, and he headed over to him. Severus nodded at him in greeting, and swept down along the hallway. Ed followed, and they ended up in an office.

In front of him was a tall, old, pointed looking woman with an air of authority as thick as Mustang's skull. She motioned for him to sit and he did so, Severus pulling up a chair to the side of him.

"So, Elric is it?" said the imposing woman. Ed nodded.

"Yeah, Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist. Ask Severus what it is, because I'm not giving another potion-induced explanation about it," Ed said stiffly.

The woman nodded. "I'm Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, Head of Gryffindor House, and the Transfiguration teacher. Have you done any magic before receiving your letter?"

Ed shook his head. "No, just alchemy, but it's different from your magic so, no I haven't. I know most of the basic spells for all 6 years, and I was able to perform most of the spells my books had in them over the summer." McGonagall's eyebrows rose.

"Well, then you might not need QUITE as many supplementary lessons as we thought. Anyways, you'll be selecting your classes and taking small proficiency tests tomorrow, so if you feel like studying, I would do so. Now please follow me to be Sorted. You'll go after the first years," McGonagall said, rising from her chair to leave the room. Ed and Severus followed behind.

"I'll see you later on Elric, but for now I need to get back to the Hall," Severus said quietly. Ed was taken aback by the use of his last name.

"Hey, um, Severus. You can call me by my first name you know. If Ed's too familiar for you then just use Edward. If you _still_ need formalized shit, then call me Fullmetal. People only say Elric when they're talking about me and my brother," Ed finished sadly.

Snape scowled. "Fine, Fullmetal. I shall see you later," Severus replied, and abruptly turned and swept down a side corridor.

Ed looked around, slightly confused, but then saw McGonagall up ahead of him, and hurried to catch up to her, finding himself standing in front of a bunch of eleven-year-olds.

"Please follow me into the Great Hall where you shall be Sorted into your Houses. Come quickly please," the professor ended briskly and started off towards a large archway. Ed fell into line beside a skinny first year trembling so hard it looked like his robes would fall off. Ed put his automail hand on his shoulder and he jumped up in surprise, calming down when he saw Ed was the one next to him.

"Are you okay?" Ed asked, the kid taking huge breaths before looking back up at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just…nervous is all," the kid said, trying to get himself together. Ed tried to give him an encouraging smile, remembering the anxiety he and Al had felt when they'd been caught doing their first alchemy.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. What's your name?" Ed asked. The kid looked up.

"Ju-Julian Wilder."

"Edward Elric. Call me Ed," Ed replied, holding out a hand. The first year took it, and gave a tentative smile.

"Jules. Call me Jules, Ed," Jules said weakly, still slightly nervous. The two suddenly realized that half the first years were pushing past them and they hurried along, exchanging conversation as they walked.

"So, are you new here Jules?" Ed asked. Jules half grinned.

"What kind of a question is that? We're all first years aren't we? By the way, why were you late? My parents said a few years ago, some second years took a flying car out here and were late, but if you're just a first then-"

"I'M A GODDAMN 6TH YEAR DAMMIT!! Why the hell is that SO hard for everyone to accept?" Ed burst out, and realized Jules was trembling again. "Oh, sorry Jules. I'm not a 1st year; I'm a 6th year transfer _who is not short_. I didn't mean to take my anger out on you, but that's got to be the fifth time someone's done that _today_."

Jules mumbled a quiet "sorry" and Ed rolled his eyes.

"Agh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blow up on you, you're pretty awesome and the sanest person I've met in this place."

Jules gave him a weird look. "Wait, are you from a dif-" he started and then his voice turned into a gasp along with everyone else's when the group entered the Great Hall.  
The ceiling looked like there was no ceiling, the night sky holding up the walls instead. The room itself was enormous, the four long tables lining the hall were filled with students, and a fifth table was packed full of people Ed assumed were the teachers, receiving a slight shock when he noticed Severus sitting among them. Each table had a large banner over it, one of a lion, another of a hawk, a snake, and a badger. McGonagall had them file into a line, and placed a large, weather beaten hat on a stool. For some reason, it gained the attention of all the students. Then it opened its mouth and began to sing:

Tis the Sorting Hat's song!! Yay!! We don't ever find out the lyrics to this, so just imagine pretty prophetic words flowing out of a Hat's mouth.

The students clapped, Ed marveling at the magic of the hat, and wondering how the fuck they got a soul in it. _There's probably a blood seal hidden under one of those patches._

McGonagall stepped forward, holding up a long scroll.

"When I call your name, please step forward, and sit, placing the Hat on your head."

The first years raised eyebrows, Jules whispering frantically to Ed, "My brother's a dirty liar, telling me we had to duel with Snape. We just have to try on a stupid hat!"

Ed turned to him in wonder. "You're brother went here too? Who is he?"

"His name's Judest Wilder, but he goes by Jude. He's a Ravenclaw in six- in your year I suppose," Jules said sadly, eyes downcast. Ed nudged him playfully in the side.

"Hey, don't worry, just because there's a age difference doesn't mean we won't hang out. I have to take supplementary classes anyways because I'm a transfer, so maybe I'll be in one of your 1st year classes." _But probably not,_ Ed added to himself.

Jules brightened considerably, and then the words "Amphora, Adrian," came out of McGonagall's mouth.

Adrian walked to the stool, and put the Hat on his head, it falling down to cover his eyes. Nothing happened for a moment, but then the Hat's 'mouth' boomed "GRYFFINDOR!" and a large round of applause started up from the lion table. Ed scanned it for people he knew and saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville all seated there with Ron's sister. The first year sat down at the table, probably grateful to be out of the center of attention. One by one, students were called and were either Sorted into "GRYFFINDOR!" "HUFFLEPUFF!" "RAVENCLAW!" or "SLYTHERIN!" The only familiar faces outside the Gryffindor table were Luna at Ravenclaw, and the Malfoy at Slytherin.

Ed immediately wished to not be in Slytherin. The only Sorting he paid attention to after the first guy's was Jules, who after someone named "Vladar, Tzuchi," was Sorted into "SLYTHERIN", Ed heard McGonagall boom out "Wilder, Julian."

Julian slowly walked up to the stool, trembling harder than he had been when he'd first met Ed. The Hat settled upon his head for a few seconds and then screamed out "RAVENCLAW!" A large round of applause came from the Eagle table, Jules going to sit next to an older guy who had the same build and hair as his younger counterpart. _That's probably Jude,_ Ed thought.

--

Finally the last first year was Sorted when "Zadaa, Loor" was made into a "GRIFFINDOR!"

Ed stood up at the front awkwardly, people staring at him, probably wondering why he was still up there. Dumbledore stood up from his place at the High Table and the Hall fell silent.

"Now, before we dig into our feast, there is one other thing we must do. We now have a new student, Mr. Edward Elric, who will be transferring into our sixth year. Please treat him as you would anyone who has been here for all five years, and try not to starve while we Sort him," Dumbledore ended, grinning. Ed smiled, and then saw McGonagall motioning for him to put on the hat. He walked the two yards over to the small chair, and sat down, pulling the Hat over his eyes.

--

After a few seconds nothing happened.

_**Hmm…A very hard decision, very hard this one. Many secrets, a vast amount. Oh, now don't get all alarmed, you knew what I was the moment I started talking and you thought of your brother. By the way, best keep him and your Automail a secret. Same thing about seeing the thestrals. People are usually suspicious if you've seen someone die before.**_

_What the hell? You're in my head?!_

_**But of course. Why ever not? Shielding your mind won't work against me, your wall formula isn't working on me. As I said you are a man of many secrets Mr. Elric, many secrets indeed.**_

_Yeah, well threatening me with those won't get you anywhere. Like you said, I know what you are and I know how to unmake you. Take out the blood seal and you end up just like the Slicers. So get on with it._

_**Ah, but you are simply SO complex Mr. Elric, that it is rather hard. Why the only harder student I've ever Sorted was Mr. Potter, but he at least had a preference. You don't seem to care. Lets see…definitely not Hufflepuff. You have enough vengeance, cunning, and ambition to be in Slytherin, but there's too much love and intellect for that House. This is rather hard. I don't have all day, and because everything is SUCH a tie between the two, I'm just going to have to do something I haven't done since the third generation after the Founders died…**_

_Wait, what? What are you doing? Are you going to tell them? No, don't-_

"I DON'T KNOW!"

--

--


	15. Half of a House

Did y'all catch my brief cross-over

_I feel pretty guilty that I haven't updated this until Mother's Day, so even though she knows absolutely nothing about FMA, and thinks my fanficts writing is silly, I dedicate this long waited for chapter to my dearest Mom (for really no apparent reason)._

_--_

_Did y'all catch my brief name crossover last chapter? I own nothing besides my plot._

--

**Chapter 15: Half of a House**

--

Ed blinked in confusion, taking off the hat and examining it to see if there was any dust on the blood seal or something. Before he could find the source of the strangeness, the Hat opened its mouth to begin speaking again, and Ed dropped it in surprise.

"Now-"

"Ahh!"

"Don't drop me fool!"

"Sorry," Ed said weakly picking up the Hat, only just then realizing the sheer number of people staring at him in confusion.

"What the hell?" someone said loudly, and immediately the Hall exploded into noise. The teachers tried vainly to control the situation, but they were in enough shock as it was to really do anything.

"SILENCE," boomed Dumbledore from the Head Table. The Hall fell silent, Ed still sitting frozen on the stool holding the Sorting Hat.

"Now," Dumbledore continued, "This mild irregularity shall be immediately clarified. Do not be alarmed, for this HAS happened before. Now, before I allow you to dig in to this long awaited meal, let me say just a few words first. Flitter, Quid, Randur, and Faar."

Instantly, food appeared in huge heaps on all the tables, and while the other students dug in, Dumbledore grabbed Ed's arm and pulled the hat-bearing transfer out of the Hall and along several corridors, until stopping in front of a large gargoyle.

"Password?" the gargoyle asked absentmindedly. Ed jumped about a foot in the air and almost dropped the Hat again, while Dumbledore replied, "Acid Pops, please." To Ed's utter bewilderment, the gargoyle moved aside to reveal a thin spiraling staircase. Dumbledore stepped on it, and motioned for Ed to follow. He did, and as soon as he was completely stationary on it, the staircase began moving, much like the escalators in London, and the two ascended until stopping at a landing. They got off, and walked to a wooden door, which Dumbledore opened, and motioned for Ed to step inside. He entered, and was taken aback in awe.

There were huge filled bookcases, abtract and exotic instruments everywhere, about five globes, only on the first landing. To the side there was a large staircase leading up to a balcony-like landing filled with more amazing items, and in the middle of the room there was a large desk.

Dumbledore sat down behind it, saying, "Please, sit," to Ed.

He sat, slightly apprehensive as Dumbledore leaned down to look directly into his golden eyes with bright blue ones that pierced his very soul. Selfconciously, Ed barricaded his mind with the familiar transmuted wall formula.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes briefly. "Would you mind handing me the Hat, Mr. Elric?"

Ed nodded, and passed him the headgear. Dumbledore set it on the table and leaned down to look at it.

"You see Mr. Elric, while this sort of event _has_ happened before, it was well before my time, and only the Hat has the specific instructions of what to do with you. We haven't had transfers since Grindelwald, and usually they came from another school, or were home schooled. This, coupled with your…_unusual_ Sorting, leads to complications. Do you follow me?"

Ed nodded. "Yeah. Basically, most transfers know how to use _your_ type of magic instead of a type completely unfamiliar to you, so you need to give me special lessons to learn _your_ knowledge, and you need to resort to asking a Hat how to place me somewhere because someone as unique as me hasn't come to a school where they have to be slotted into a category for the rest of their lives, since the third generation after your Founders died. Is that correct?" he finished, not caring that he'd started semi-ranting.

Dumbledore straightened to survey the transfer, and chuckled. "Yes, Mr. Elric, you would be right. About all of your speech unfortunately, for what you say about us is absolutely right, even if it is from a cynical point of view. Because, while resorting to a Hat for answers is sad, it is the one that knows what to do with you according to the blueprint your mind gives us. So, lets ask it for advice shall we?" he responded, smiling at Ed.

Ed gave him his trademark evil grin in return, and leaned forward in his chair. "So how will we be doing this exactly?"

"You could just ask me what I meant by 'I don't know'. That would probably be the easiest method to use," butted in the Hat.

Dumbledore smiled fondly. "You would know best. So, Sorting Hat, since you never truly '_don't know_' how to sort a student, how do you intend to place Mr. Elric into a House?"

"Well, he's a bit of an enigma that one. Knows how to both make and destroy me, knows about corruption, has seen altogether too much than is healthy, came here for a specific purpose, and is probably wishing I would stop telling you things about him. Don't worry Elric," the Hat suddenly said to Ed, "I don't tell anyone what I see in others' heads. If I did my seal would disintegrate, and I wouldn't be here anymore. So don't worry."

Ed gave a small sigh of relief, which Dumbledore picked up on almost immediately, but chose to ignore as the Hat continued.

"Now, because of his obvious intellect and loathing of non-training manual labor, he is almost the opposite of a Hufflepuff. He is cunning with enough ambition to be a Slytherin, but because he opposes screwing with human lives so much, that he wouldn't do very well in that House either. It is here that I have a problem. Elric came here for learning, but that learning was to help someone dear to him. He has much knowledge, but will use none of it because of the hurt they would inflict on others. So his Gryffindor/Ravenclaw sides are fairly equal. As he had no real preference towards either of his sides, I am going to merge him into both, rather like that Slytherin/Gryffindor combo all those years ago."

"How exactly shall he be merged?" Dumbledore questioned, who looked just as intrigued as Ed did impatient.

"Mr. Elric shall sleep in the Gryffindor dorms, but have all of his classes except for Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Ravenclaws. If he ends up taking NEWT classes with the rest of his year, this won't matter anyway, since the 6th years are all mixed in their classes together. For official things, he shall be listed as a Ravenclaw, and at meals, he can sit wherever he feels like; though probably will end up sitting at one of those two House tables. Ravenclaw would probably be wise for today, Elric," the Hat concluded, addressing Ed again.

Dumbledore nodded, picking up the Hat and setting it on a shelf. "Thank you. Now Mr. Elric, I am sure you are getting hungry, so lets go back down to the feast, shall we?"

--

They walked back to the Great Hall, Dumbledore sitting at the High Table, and Ed quickly walking to the Ravenclaws. He spotted an empty seat across from Luna and collapsed into it. Luna looked up from her pudding, and surveyed Ed questioningly, as he began to heap his plate with a huge pile of food.

"So you're in Ravenclaw then?" she asked. Ed shook his head while biting into a piece of roast.

"Hmm? No, I only have all my classes except Defense Against the Dark Arts with you. I sleep and have that class with the Gryffindors. It's rather confusing really," he finished, shoveling through piles of food as he talked, barely aware of his shitty manners.

Luna didn't notice either, as hers were rather crappy as well (though not as bad as Ed's), and nodded, accepting his rant. The two gorged themselves on pudding (Luna) and anything within reach that didn't visibly contain milk (Ed), while chatting about random stuff.

Luna told Ed about all the strange magical creatures she knew about, and Ed in turn told her about alchemy, his brother, Winry, and Izumi. They would interrupt each other's rants with comments and questions, and proceed to normal talking, but none of it really meant much. It was basically just friendship making talk, and when the meal was over, and Hermione walked over to show Ed the way to Gryffindor tower, they both promised each other they'd talk more the next day at breakfast.

--

Hermione led Ed away from the Ravenclaws, jealousy pulsing through her as she saw how well those two seemed to get along, and was brought out of her brooding by Ed's hand resting on her shoulder.

"Hey, you're a prefect right? Don't you need to show the first years the way too?" Ed asked curiously.

Hermione again battled the flush that arose every time Ed made contact with her, and shook her head. "Not really. Well I do, but Ron knows what to do, and also we're all going to the same place, so it's not really much of a problem."

Ed nodded, and followed Hermione through the castle. Hermione kept turning around to make sure he was still behind her, and was glad of the excuse to look at him.

_He really __is__ hot,_ she thought to herself. His eyes were entrancing, as well as his casualness around everyone.

Once Hermione turned to check on him, and tripped through the Vanishing step that Neville always forgot about, and was about to fall flat on her face when a strong arm caught her, and pulled her up. Hermione tried to turn, but couldn't see her savior because of her leg being stuck through the hole up to her knee, and she couldn't move without the person dropping her.

"Hold on, I've got you. Now pull your leg out. Don't be afraid of falling, I won't let you," said a slightly familiar voice behind her. Gingerly, Hermione pulled her leg out of the step, and set it on the one above it, turning to thank whoever had grabbed her.

Instead of Ron, as she'd thought, it was Ed. His arm unwound from around her waist, and there was a hint of concern in his eyes. Hermione's heart melted, but it froze up almost immediately afterwards.

_Shit! He must think I'm a total klutz._ She smiled at him as warmly as she could.

"Thanks Ed. By the way," Hermione continued, raising her voice so the staring first years could hear, "there's no step there. If you walk on that step, you'll fall through like I did, and Ed might not be there to catch you if you do," she said, smiling slightly at Ed. He returned her smile with his evil grin, and Hermione blushed, and quickly turned around.

"Hey, Hermione. Lets get to the Tower shall we?" called Ron from behind her. Hermione nodded, recovering her composure, and lead them to their destination, not once looking back at her crush.

--

Ed walked into the Common Room and found it full of red and gold tapestries, big squishy chairs, and a large fireplace against a wall. It was pretty late, so he followed Harry into the boys' dormitory. He found his stuff set up around a large four-poster bed. Drawing the curtains, he quickly changed into some clothes he could sleep in that didn't show his automail, and then stuck his head out to say night to those around him.

Falling back onto his bedspread, he went to sleep as fast as if he were back home somewhere in Amestris.

-

--

--

--

--

--

-

_Is it so obvious that when in this chapter and the last that I was completely brain dead (in relation to creativity) and was getting names and random words from Pendragon titles, Runaways characters, and Beatles songs? _

…_well it is to me…if you __**really**__ want to know where all my random references were from, I'll tell you guys._

_--_

_Oh, on my profile, there's a poll for if I should edit the EdxWinry in this story. There are several choices, so go state your opinion. I really hate how I wrote it before, so if you guys would vote in that, I'd love to see what you guys think._

_--_

_Tomorrow Ed gets to take his proficiency tests. Joy._

_.._

_That right there was sarcasm. Write that down kids, write that down._

…_I am such an abuser of inside jokes…_


	16. First Day of School

Yes, this is unspeakably late, I am aware of that

_Yes, this is unspeakably late, I am aware of that. I keep promising quick updates, yet they never come. I am terribly sorry, and this will not happen again! No longer shal I lie to you and say that the next update will come quickly, because it most likely WON'T!!_

_--_

_--_

_I still own nothing. If I did, there'd be yuri, and as all the characters of both fandoms are unspeakably straight, there is proof that I indeed am not Arakawa-sensei._

--

**Chapter ****16: First**** Day of School**

--

Ed woke up a few hours after the sun as usual, but waaaay earlier than the rest of the dorm. He quickly changed into his robes, putting his red cloak on over them out of sheer impulse. Grabbing the _Standard Book of Spells_ for year seven and his wand, Ed wandered down into the Common Room. He opened the book and began reading, processing all the information about the spells, then actually trying them, testing the authenticity with alchemy if possible. In the space of two hours, he'd finished the book and performed all the spells twice, always with the desired effect. Slightly bored, he went back up to the dorm to grab the texts for his electives, starting in on them right away. By the time the Golden Trio was up, Ed was interpreting complex math charts, while trying to memorize a list of planets simultaneously.

"What the hell?"

Ed looked up and saw them standing in front of him. "Oh hey, Harry, Ron, Hermione. How long've you been up?"

"About fifteen minutes. What about you?" Harry responded.

"Oh, a few hours. I'm trying to study for the placement tests I'm getting today, and the stuff for Astronomy and Arithmancy is harder to memorize than the normal spells and formulas," Ed said distractedly, copying down numbers as he spoke.

Harry took away the Arithmancy book and handed it to Ron. "Put that in his room before he starts writing the names of planets in instead of numbers." Ron nodded, and left despite Ed's protests.

"Hey, give that back! I _need_ to study, if I'm going to take all 6th year classes the first term! I don't want to have to take the 5th year classes _and_ supplementary lessons! Give me the damn book!" Ed yelled, only to have the Astronomy book shoved into his face.

"One thing at a time mate. I want you to be at NEWT level too, we don't want you killing yourself. You can't have the other one until you finish this one. Deal?" offered Ron. Ed glared at him.

"Fine," he said, looking around for a clock. "Hey, when does breakfast start?"

"Bit more than an hour. It's 7:30 now, and breakfast isn't until 8:45. So study now. By the way, Ed, why are you wearing that cloak?" Hermione asked curiously.

Ed shrugged. "It's comfortable, I like it, the robes are stupid, and it's what I normally wear except without the robes. Thanks for telling me the times. Come get me when you go to eat, 'kay?"

The Trio nodded, and walked off, complete with little golden chibi auras surrounding their heads. As Hermione tried to devise spells to make herself a matching cloak, Ed memorized most of the planets, and finished all the Arithmancy interpretation. He was left with time to kill so he walked over to where the Golden Trio was in deep conversation with Ron's girl-mini-me.

"There's something weird going on. I can tell."

"Harry, don't overreact out of paranoia."

"People can fool you Harry-"

"Yeah, I remember how Sirius died Hermione."

"Thanks Hermione, rub salt in his wound why don't you-"

"Shut up Ginny you know I didn't mean it like that-"

"What did you mean it like then?" said Ed, and they group whipped around to see him standing behind him. Harry and Ron relaxed, while Hermione visibly grew tenser.

"Oh, hey Ed," Harry said cheerfully. Ed sat on the couch next to the Ron-girl.

She held out a hand. "I'm Ginny Weasley. Nice to meet you. They've told me loads about you."

Ed smiled and took the hand. "Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. Call me Ed," he said automatically, then kicked himself for the title-giving habit. "Dammit!! Agh!! Stupid military!! Grrr…" he muttered to himself, then remembered Ginny next to him. "Oh, sorry Ginny. I'm just trying to break this habit of title giving that the damn military trained into me. Just call me Ed."

Ginny smiled, eyes full of laughter. "It's cool. By the way, I'm a year younger than you and Ron's sister."

"Yeah, I gathered. So is it time for breakfast yet?" The wizards all automatically looked down at their watches, and then stood up.

"Yeah, the Great Hall's been open for about ten minutes. Lets go."

--

The group walked down to breakfast, Ed finding Luna and sitting with her. After breakfast, the plates magically disappeared off the tables much like it had appeared the night before.

Professor McGonagall came around and started handing out schedules and talking to people about their classes. When everyone but him had received a schedule, McGonagall beckoned Ed to come with her. He followed her into a classroom that had a cauldron set up, several plants, a large dummy, and a lot of teachers standing around the sides of the room. Ed spotted Severus and gave him a small wave, which was promptly ignored. McGonagall headed to the front of the room and started speaking.

"Mr. Elric-"

"I'd prefer it if you called me Edward or Fullmetal m'am."

"No. Mr. Elric as you are new here and have only just begun studying magic, you need to take a small proficiency test to see if we need to give you supplementary lessons before allowing you to take NEWT level classes. Professor Sprout, could you start us off please?"

"Certainly Minerva," replied a small slightly pudgy woman, who walked up to Ed and smiled. "Please follow me over to the plants." Ed walked over and was faced with Devil's Snare, a Mandrake, and a Bubotuber pod.

"Please tell me how to deal with the situations I give you for each plant, and then repeat the following instructions exactly as I tell you them." Ed nodded and got to work, doing everything pretty well, except that he got some Bubotuber pus onto his automail, and his Mandrake didn't get potted very well. As Ed _Scourgify_ed himself, Professor Sprout wrote some things down on a clipboard, and then passed it to Professor Slughorn.

"Edward, m'boy!" he said boisterously. Ed liked that he didn't use Elric, but still disliked everything else about the teacher's manner. Especially the whole "m'boy" thing he kept using.

"I'm going to ask you if you know how to make several potions, and if you say yes, please tell me the basic instructions. Then please make a potion according to these instructions, and identify the end product. Not too difficult, eh m'boy?" boomed the man.

Ed shook his head. "Not really."

"Very good, I have high hopes for you. Now, please tell me how to make the Draught of the Living Dead."

This test went better than the last one, given that early alchemy was almost exactly like potions. Ed did everything perfectly, and Slughorn kept remarking at his apparent genius, and beaming at him in a way that Ed didn't exactly like. Next up was Severus.

"Hello Fullmetal."

"Hey, Severus. So you're a teacher?" Ed replied, raising an eyebrow.

Severus scowled. "It's Professor Snape to you, as I _am_ your teacher. Now, please perform all of the following spells either on me, or on that dummy, depending on what it does." Snape listed off the Non-incantation names of the spells, watching Ed perform them perfectly with almost no surprise. He'd known ever since the boy had blocked his mind that he had more power than expected, more than the average adult wizard, and certainly more than Potter.

"Thank you Fullmetal," Severus said, after Ed _Enervate_-ed him from his Stunned state. "That will be all for DADA," he finished, passing the clipboard to McGonagall.

She proceeded to test him on Transfiguration, something Ed was especially good at, considering that it went against all of his principals and morals. His determination to learn it came from the fact that he might be able to conjure up Al's body, or something equally as unlikely.

Ed moved onto Charms, and after being asked what he wanted for electives, was tested in Arithmancy and Astronomy. He left the room feeling both confident that he would get into the classes he wanted, and apprehensive at the fact that none of the teachers had told him his score, but had simply scribbled on that damn clipboard.

Reaching the Common Room, he was relieved to discover that classes didn't start until the next day, and sank into a squishy chair. He spent the next few minutes listening to the Golden Trio talk about random shit, while zoning out. Finally he got really bored, and started heading out of the room, when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Spinning around, Ed saw Hermione next to him.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I'm just going to wander around I guess. Wish classes started today."

Hermione gave him a look of surprise. "That's weird, everyone else is grateful for the day off. Personally, I wanted to start today too, but they changed the schedule of classes this year because a few of the teachers weren't going to arrive until tomorrow, but since they showed up early, they're still waiting a day to start and yeah…" Hermione trailed off, staring into Ed's eyes.

He shrugged, not noticing, since he always held eye contact with people. "That kinda sucks. Anyways, wanna come with? The guys look like they don't want anyone interrupting their game. Feel like showing me around?"

Her eyes lit up at his words, and she agreed heartily, waving to her other chess-playing 2/3s.

--

They walked around the castle, Hermione showing Ed all the classrooms, most of the offices, the kitchens, and the halls. She told him about the staircases, and the door passwords. She showed him the Room of Requirement, watching Ed transform it into a small room with numerous bookcases, a few nice corners between them, a bed, and materials for alchemical experiments. Ed looked around solemnly.

"This looks like a cross between one of the libraries and my room at Granny Pinako's," he said softly. Hermione looked at him and saw sadness in his eyes; along with an emotion she couldn't quite place. Ed shook his head to clear his thoughts, and headed out of the room.

"So is there a library here, or what?" Ed demanded suddenly. Hermione was taken aback. Normally that was the thing people thought of last when they walked around Hogwarts. People besides her anyways.

"Yeah, there is."

"Okay, what are we waiting for? I want to see it!" Ed said excitedly, and Hermione led him into the large library. Ed gave a total noncommittal sound similar to Winry-in-a-tool-shop squeals, and started browsing through the aisles. Hermione followed, surprised at his herself-like enthusiasm. She eventually had to drag him away, telling him there was more to see. Ed followed reluctantly.

Hermione took him through the grounds, around the lake, across the train tracks, to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and decided they might as well pay Hagrid a visit. She started leading him to the hut.

"Hey Ed, we're going to go see Hagrid. Is that all right? He's great and all, so don't worry about him." Ed nodded, wondering who he was. Hermione walked up to the door, and knocked, calling "Hey, Hagrid open up. It's Hermione!"

The door opened and a huge man with a large shaggy dark beard opened the door, smiling at Hermione's presence.

"Hullo Hermione. Who's this now?" he leaned down to look at Ed. "Yur the transfer ain't ye?"

Ed nodded, holding out his hand. _No titles no titles no titles no titles no titles._

"I'm Edward Elric. Call me Ed."

The big man took his hand. "Rubeus Hagrid. Call me Hagrid. Everyone does. Well come in now. Where's Harry and Ron?" he asked suddenly.

Hermione shrugged. "I was taking Ed on a tour of the school, and they didn't feel like coming."

Hagrid nodded, and the three of them had lunch, and had a pretty good time overall. The two students left laughing, promising to return again soon. Ed watched Hermione continue chuckling at the memory of the visit and smiled.

_She's pretty cool. A lot better than her friends that's for sure._

A thought hit him and he laughed out loud. Hermione looked at him in confusion. "What's so funny?" she asked.

Ed shook his head. "Nothing. Just the fact that the only people here that I actually consider real friends are two girls and a first year."

Hermione smiled. "Yeah, well at least you already have some friends. I didn't have any until after my first Halloween here."

Ed was caught off guard by this. "What? Really?"

Hermione nodded. "Yup. I was the annoying rule-worshipping smart girl until Harry and Ron saved me from a mountain troll after crying in the bathroom. I actually lied to a teacher that day, and the three of us just kinda bonded. Everything else fell into place from there," Hermione finished, reminiscing. Ed nodded, bored, and after a few moments Hermione blushed, having forgotten he was there.

They went back to the Common Room, and pretty much hung out for most of the day. Harry and Ron asked why they missed lunch, and when they said they'd had it with Hagrid, they pretended to get pissed off, but it all ended in laughter. At dinner Ed sat with the Ravenclaws as usual, but pulled Luna over to sit by Jules and his brother. They joked around, and when Ed went to bed that night, he was slightly glad that there hadn't been any classes that day, as he'd made yet another friend from the outcome.

_--_

_--_

_--_

_--_

_Yes, I am a lazy bum for not making classes start yet, but I got really depressed today, because I saw something horrible, and to make a short story short, blame an hour of tears for this chapter's crappiness._

_As said before, I'm not going to lie to you and say that the next update will be soon, but it should come in a loosely reasonable timeframe._


	17. Classes

I totally got you guys

_I totally got you guys!! I kept saying "it's going to take awhile" and then here it is, the next chapter only a few days after! Woot! I be so clever-ish!! Yeah…_

_Anyways, now that you guys' absent enthusiasm has finally calmed me down, I still own nothing._

--

**Chapter 17: Classes**

--

That morning, when Ed had breakfast, he was greeted by the sight of hundreds of owls swarming into the Hall, carrying things in their beaks. They dropped down by students, bearing packages and letters from their family. Ed was greeted with a bird of his own, and opening his letter, he found it contained his schedule. Jules and Luna compared it to theirs, stopping when Ed said he had all NEWT courses. The first year pulled his sixth year brother over to compare with Ed's as well, much to both the older students' mutual annoyance.

Ed had all seventh year NEWT classes, and didn't need supplementary unless he was at a dramatic disadvantage with everyone else.

He breathed a sigh of relief, barely noticing when he actually had the classes. Jules seemed crestfallen when he learned he would be sharing no classes with Ed, but perked up when he found out that his brother shared some with the transfer, and realized classes would be starting that day. Ed ate heartily, and when the bell rang, he made his way to Transfiguration.

The NEWT students were all mixed classes, and the class sizes weren't extremely large. Ed noted with a bit of annoyance that both the Golden Trio and Malfoy were in most of his classes because of this. He hung out mostly with Hermione or Jules' brother, Jude, for most of the day.

McGonagall was just as strict as he'd judged her to be, and left with new spells ringing through his head, and a pile of homework. Charms proved to be fairly simple, odd, considering that the Head of the House reputed for its intelligence, would teach such an easy class. Herbology was simple, and Ed was pleased to see that Hermione joined him in his Arithmancy class. He learned that the course wasn't all that different from alchemy, only revolved around fortune telling instead of creation. Astronomy had him up from midnight till two AM, but all in all, the first day had been pretty okay.

The next however, did not prove to be so straight-forward.

--

Ed had imagined that this day would be easy, only 3 classes, and he was actually on good terms with one of them. He was wrong.

--

As soon as he entered the Potions class and took his seat, Slughorn was all over him. He was ever _so_ smart Edward was, and oh _so_ clever. Why, Slughorn had never seen such a fast learner as Edward, and was _so_ keen to know more about where he'd come from.

After a class full of mostly compliments and "m'boy" 's, with hardly any actual potion making, Ed left the room seriously considering not coming back.

"I mean, I could just drop the class right? It's not required is it?" Ed asked Luna panickedly at lunch. Luna shrugged. "I guess. Well, no ones ever really dropped out of a core before, just an elective. I don't really think you can if you got a high enough score." Ed muttered obscenities at her reply, receiving looks of mingled shock and admiration from the other (more studious) Ravenclaws, as he and Jude left for DADA.

--

Walking along the corridors, they reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Both paused awkwardly when they realized that they really shared no friends.

"Um, guess I'll see you at lunch," said Ed, breaking the silence.

"Hey, lets meet in the library after class and compare notes. I have a free period then. Or you could come to our dormitories, if you wanted," Jude said in his soft voice.

Ed shook his head. "No, it's cool. The library's fine. Besides you have more friends than just me, so you shouldn't get _too_ lonely in my absence."

The serious Ravenclaw cracked a seldom seen grin, and walked off to one of the groups surrounding the door. Ed shook his head playfully, and seeing the class huddle around the door, he walked over to stand by Harry and Ron, who turned to him.

"Hey Ed. You got tested for your classes right? Who's the teacher this year?" questioned Harry.

"Yeah, they normally tell us at the feast, but because of you getting mixed-up, they haven't told us yet. It's always different (the job's jinxed), and since Slughorn was teaching Potions instead of Snape we thought it might be…you know," Ron trailed off in his interruption. The two stared intently at Ed, joined by Hermione as she stood by Ed's other side.

"Yeah, Severus was the one who was testing me. What's wrong?" Ed asked, when met with their looks of combined horror and confusion. Harry spoke up first.

"Well shit. What's wrong is that Snape wishes all of us were dead, and basically hates us Gryffindors in general."

"Also, why do you call him Severus?" spoke up Ron. Ed's eyebrows rose in confusion.

"Why not? I met him over the summer when I got picked up for interrogation by the Order, and he was introduced to me as-"

"Keep your voice down Fullmetal," muttered a soft voice behind him. Ed whipped around to see that Severus had entered, and opened the door.

"Inside," he said.

The students filed in, taking their seats just before the bell range. When it did, Severus flicked his wand, the door locking with an ominous 'click' followed by the jiggling of a handle and several obscenities. Ed grinned upon recognizing Malfoy's voice.

The room was dark and shadowy, strange pictures of curse-inflicted victims adorned the walls, seemingly for later study. Severus walked to the front of the room, and swirled around.

"I have not asked you to take out your books," he said. Hermione and several others quickly dropped their bags, and pretended they hadn't been reaching to get their books out.

"You have had 5 teachers in this subject so far I believe," Severus continued. _They switch teachers every year? What the hell?_ Ed thought.

"Naturally these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion I am surprised many of you scraped an OWL in this subject. I shall be even more surprised if you manage to keep up with the NEWT work, which will be more advanced." Severus started walking around the room sweeping through the aisles. Ed was both impressed and fighting the urge to laugh at how intimidated the class seemed.

"The Dark Arts," said Severus, "are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, and indestructible."

Ed could see Harry staring at Severus in shock, and felt a sense of déjà vu. Before, Snape had talked of Voldemort and the Death Eaters as though they were fond memories, and now he was speaking of the Dark Arts with a loving hint in his voice.

_I take back what I thought earlier about wondering about his story. I __want__ to hear his story now._ Ed thought, as the presence before him continued his monologue.

"Your defenses must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo. These pictures" Severus pointed to the images on the walls, "give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer the Cruciatus Curse, the Dementor's Kiss, or provoke the aggression of the Inferius."

"Has an Inferius been seen, then?" asked a high-voiced Slytherin girl wearing prostitutal amounts of make-up. "Is it definite, is he using them?"

"The Dark Lord has used Inferni in the past, which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again. Now…" Snape said, walking back to the front of the room. Ed made a mental note to ask Luna what an Inferius was.

"…You are, I believe, complete novices in the use of nonverbal spells. What is the advantage of such a spell?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air, warily followed by Ed's. Severus looked around for a while, trying to find a non-Hermione to call on, and seemed surprised to see Ed's hand in the air. "Yes, Fullmetal?"

"Your opponent doesn't know what you're going to do to them," Ed said, "Which, assuming your using a spell, gives you about a second's worth of an advantage. Really, it's rather pointless because though they won't know when you're sending the spell out or what type you're using, your opponent can still either dodge the spell or shield themselves."

He was met with shocked stares from most of the class, having butted in with his opinion along with an actual answer. Severus himself looked rather impressed.

"5 points to Ravenclaw, for that highly opinionated answer. But correct in all aspects, including the rather cynical ones. Yes, those who progress to using magic gain an element of surprise in their magic, though the spells can still be repelled as normal, the attacker does not know when they are coming. Not all wizards can do this, of course; it is a question of concentration and mind power"

-here Severus's gaze lingered upon Ed for a split second-

"which some"

-he then turned a death glare onto Harry-

"Lack. You will now divide into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other _without speaking_." Severus paused, glaring out at the class, then went on. "The other will attempt to repel the jinx _in equal silence_. Carry on."

The class divided up, and Ed was eventually stuck with a girl he didn't know. She was tall, had long dark beaded hair, large multicolored eyes, and a hawk-like nose. Ed gave her a small half small, which was acknowledged, though unreturned.

The girl ignored his attempts to introduce himself. "I hate introductions so can we get on with this please?"

Ed nodded. "Sure"

"I'll jinx you first," the girl replied, and they stepped away from each other. Other pairings were just starting off as well, so it was fine. Ed's partner raised her wand, and Ed heard her mutter something faintly, when a jet of light shot out of her wand. Ed muttered "_Protego_" just as quietly, blocking the spell. Unfortunately, Severus was right behind him when he said that.

"Fullmetal, did I not instruct you to perform these spells _nonverbally_?" he hissed. Ed held his ground.

"No, you instructed us to repel the jinx in _equal silence_. Meaning, that if she jinxes me almost silently, I should repel it with the same volume."

Severus scowled. "Nobody likes a smart ass, Fullmetal. 20 points from Gryffindor," said the irritated professor. The girl narrowed her eyes at Ed after Severus left. "Why did he first add on to Ravenclaw, and then take away from Gryffindor?" Ed shrugged.

"I'm in 2 Houses. That's basically what the Sorting Hat meant by 'I DON'T KNOW!' Since Severus has a thing against Gryffindor, he'd probably use that to his advantage. Now, it's my turn to jinx you is it not? Remember now, equal silence." His partner gave a small half smile, and backed away to give them room again. Ed focused on Stunning her, on the incantation, much like his wall formula mind shields. Gathering all his willpower together, Ed screamed in his head _STUPEFY!_

A blast of light shot out from his wand, and the girl raised hers, but her equal silence wasn't working. She was blasted into the back wall, and lay motionless. A guy behind Ed gave a shirt intake of breath, and chuckled. "Nice one. Man, she's gonna be pissed when she gets up." Ed turned to see where the voice came from, but the source had vanished. He walked over to his partner, and nonverbally _Enervate-_d her. She woke up, and glared at Ed. Ed held out a hand. "Sorry about that. What's your name?" The girl glared at him, and muttered "Zaneh Chioke" before stalking off to watch her friends duel.

Finished for the period, Ed sat against the wall, pulling his bag over next to him, and began rereading his textbook for this class. He was pretty much oblivious to Harry's "Don't have to call me sir," comment, and Severus's rage that followed. Neville came over to Ed, before Malfoy got wind of the fact he was sitting, seemingly defenseless, and dragged him out of his "reading trance".

--

Ed went to the library to talk to Jude, and afterwards, sat surprisingly with the Gryffindors. He talked and joked with Hermione and Neville, while Harry and Ron gave off a feeling of dislike, especially Harry. When he pondered the feeling that night he came up with a bit of a blank.

_It's weird. I mean, we got along great before, but here. Before he was either holding something back, or he was able to forget something. Now…He just has this "My life sucks" attitude, and it pisses me off. And also, everyone keeps calling him "The Chosen One" and shit. If __**he's**__ their best hope against Voldemort, then everybody's screwed…_

--

--

--

--

--

--

_Lolz, more crossover names. But it's a mixed Immortals one now… is it so obvious that I'm totally brain-dead when it comes to naming people?_

_Yes, I know, the OCs are popping up like dead flies, but there is a point to all this. Eventually. Also, I am very aware that Jude randomly popped up in the story, but that's because I edited him out of earlier chapters he was mentioned in, but when I tried to do the same for this one, the story kinda screwed up. So yeah, earlier chapters should be edited pretty soon to smooth-ify the newly formed friendship._

_Quote of the Chapter:_

_"When at first you don't succeed, kick success in the face and yell 'Screw You!'"_


	18. Fears of Past, Present and Future

Disclaimer:

_**Disclaimer:**_

_**I am not Ruby Tyra, I never was Ruby Tyra, I will never be Ruby Tyra, I had notes written for this chapter before chapter 11 of **_**An Eventful Year**_** was posted, and I have received permission from Ruby Tyra to post this chapter.**_

_The point of this odd disclaimer is, I AM NOT IN ANY WAY PLAGERISING RUBY'S STORY OR STEALING HER IDEAS._

_Just needed to put that out there before people start brandishing pitchforks and bitching at me._

_Also, I don't own FMA or HP._

_--_

**Chapter 18: Fears of the Past, Fear of the Present, Fears of the Future**

--

About a month of being at Hogwarts, Ed was getting used to magic school's routine.

The constant game of hiding his automail from the wizard was still slightly difficult straining.

He'd had a few slip-ups, mostly occurring when he got dressed in the morning, or when he ate. He'd nearly forget to pull his curtains, or start taking his gloves off, when he would catch himself, and quickly correct his mistake. Thankfully, no one had noticed.

While he was busy most of the time, Ed missed Amestris. He missed pondering new theories, or worrying over conspiracies. He missed sparing with Al, and arguing with Mustang. He missed Winry's yelling at him over automail, missed Sensei. Hell, he _almost_ missed the Armstrongs (it didn't matter which one, they equally scared him).

Through Al's constant, (and Winry's occasional) letters, Ed noticed that things had calmed down after he'd left. The homunculi were trying to find out where Ed was, and without him as a sacrifice, they'd had to regroup. So far, the only dangerous thing the group had done was find the nearest loop of the giant transmutation circle, and blocked it up. That way, the circle couldn't be used until the problem was found and fixed, buying them some time.

Despite all of the good news coming in, Ed still missed his homeland with a passion, and was glad there was only another two months left before he could see everyone.

_Although,_ Ed thought sometimes, _if I broke my automail, I'd either have to go back there, or Winry would have to come here. Neither of those options would be __**that**__ bad._

--

Though he missed Amestris, Ed made good friends with the wizards, finding that he made friends surprisingly easily with people his own age.

"It's weird," he remarked to Luna one night. "Back home, I was only close to four people that were within a few years of me. Here, it's slightly crazy how many non-adult friends I have."

He hung out mostly with Luna, Jude, and Neville, sometimes the Golden Trio. The girl he had partnered up with in DADA (Zaneh) turned out to be friendly and fun loving, though often very sullen and moody. She and Ed didn't actually hang out (she had other friends), but they partnered up together in DADA.

Classes in general got a lot harder, as the other teachers insisted they do all of their in-class work non-verbally as well. They got to perform new spells verbally once, but only Ed was allowed to use a previously covered spell out loud once during class. Ed was grateful for this, because otherwise he'd have never been able to keep up. Well, he would have, it just would've been a pain in the ass to do so.

--

One day, Ed walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts and instead of being met with Severus's usual civil nod, he saw a familiar face.

"Remus!"  
The werewolf smiled. "Hey Ed. How's life?"

Ed grinned. "Pretty okay, you?"

Remus shrugged. "I'm fine. I'm happy to be teaching again, even if it is only for a few days."

Ed gave him a look riddled with confusion, and was stopped from asking more questions by excited shouts of "Professor Lupin!"

The classroom exploded as the rest of the class entered the room (Ed was the first one there). Remus fought his way through questions and admirers to the front of the room, quieting the class. Once the room was silent, he began.

"Thank you for your enthusiasm at my arrival. As much as I would love to stay and teach you once more, I am afraid I am only a substitute for Professor Snape. He is away for personal reasons, and as he subbed for me when I was unable to instruct you, I am returning the favor."

Murmers echoed throughout the classroom, all wondering where Snape was.

Remus stepped up closer to the whispering students, so that he was level with the first row of desks. "Wands out please. You won't need your books. Today is going to be much like your first day when I taught you, except we shall use material from this year to go about doing it."

The room instantly filled with exclamations of "Yes!" and "Awesome!"

Ed turned to Zaneh. "When did he teach here? What did you guys do?"

She turned to him, and grinned evilly. "Third year. You'll find out. It's amazing though, trust me."

Remus restored order to the room after a few moments, and then began again. "Now, who can tell me what a boggart is? Hermione?" he asked, seeing her hand go flying up before anyone else's.

"It's a shape-shifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most," she said quickly, a nostalgic smile growing on her face.

"Excellent answer Hermione, 5 points to Gryffindor–"

"Heh, re-usuing answers," Zaneh muttered to herself, causing Ed to grin.

"–Like she said, a boggart changes shape according to what you fear the most. As you can imagine, this is particularly stressful to some, and is a common Dark Creature. Fortunately, a simple charm exists to counter the boggart. Who can tell me the incantation? Zaneh?"

Her hand had shot up before Hermione's, and being called on suddenly caused many to notice her for the first time. Ed could hear Ron say loudly "Who's she?" and also heard Harry in the chorus of voices echoing the question.

Rolling her eyes, Zaneh said clearly "_Ridikulus_."

Remus nodded. "Very good, another 5 points to Gryffindor."

A loud voice said incredulously, "She's in Gryffindor?" followed by a number of hard glares aiming to the side to the class.

Ed replied loudly, "Yeah she is. Don't you know the names of anyone besides your closed circle of friends?"

Light laughter followed his comment, as well as several red faces.

_Idiotic arrogant people who don't know anyone in their own House,_ Ed thought cynically, his already low opinion of the Gryffindors in general sinking further than he'd thought possible.

Zaneh gave him a grateful look, and based on her reaction to the two notes hurriedly passed to her from behind, her other friends had just comforted her as well.

Remus looked rather uncomfortable with the whole scene playing out before, him and cleared his throat loudly. "All right, everybody, come back to earth now. As Miss Chioke just told us, the _Ridikulus_ charm is what is used to counter a boggart. But what really finishes a boggart is laughter. When you are casting your spell, it helps if you can try to turn it into something funny, that way the resulting laughter can weaken it. Now, if everyone could please line up, we will perform the spell verbally on one boggart in order to get refresh ourselves with the experience, then we will cast it on a second boggart _nonverbally_. Does everyone understand?"

The groans at the mention of "nonverbal" must've resembled "Yeah", so Remus went over to a rattling truck sitting next to his desk, and opened it all except for one buckle.

Meanwhile, the students filed into a line, Zaneh and Ed heading for the back. Zaneh's two friends, who proceeded to assure her that the ones who didn't know her were stupid gits, joined them at the end of the line. Ed smiled at their attempts to comfort her, remembering Winry once doing to the same for him, and him once doing it for Al. The thoughts made him slightly sad, but he shook the feeling off.

Neville was surprisingly the first one in line, having been led his way there by people who remembered the Snape-in-a-dress he'd made before.

"Ready Neville?" asked Remus.

Neville nodded, gripping his wand tightly. Remus opened the truck, and out of it stepped a tall dark woman, with heavily lidded eyes. Her face was cruel and she smiled an evil smile before beginning to shriek with maniacal laughter.

Neville pointed a trembling wand in her direction and yelled, "_Ridikulus!_"

The woman suddenly had on the outfit of a Muggle cheerleader, and was holding her pom-poms in utter confusion. The class laughed at the sight of the dangerous Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange, in such a stupid position.

"Very good Neville! Next!"

The line proceeded as usual, Harry facing his Dementor, Ron his spider, Hermione her failed test score, the usual business. The line finally came around until Zaneh and Ed were the last two. After Zaneh's blaring sun became a rainstorm of rose petals, Ed stepped up to face the boggart.

It swirled for a moment, changing shape, before becoming a pile of human remains, an arm coming out of the mass, a freakish head with locks of dark black hair protruding from it. Ed froze as the sight of the result of him and Al's failed human transmutation lay before him.

Hearing people gag behind him, he raised his wand shakily and whispered "_R-Ridikulus._"

There was a _crack_ and then the image changed to a destroyed suit of armor with a visibly scratched out blood seal.

Ed's knees buckled and he slid to the ground. "No," he murmured. "No…not Al… _Ridikulus!_" he screamed, sadness climbing into the sound emitted from his throat. There was another _crack_ and the creature turned into Winry lying on the ground, dead, the side of her chest impaled, bullet wounds in her head.

"No, Winry, no…_Ridikulus!_" Ed cried again, his voice weak. The image changed to a large set of doors, a childlike silhouette figure sitting cross-legged in front of it.

Ed straightened, and stood up, facing the Gate. "You aren't real. You're more of an imitation of Truth than Gluttony is. _Ridikulus!_" Ed bellowed, the strength in his voice amazing considering what he had been like a few seconds ago. There was a final _crack_ and the boggart exploded, gone for good.

Ed turned around to find the class staring at him, most mouths hanging open as they tried to process what they had just witnessed. He shoved his way through the crowd, ignoring the chorus of "Ed?"s and "What was that?"s of the other students, pulling the classroom door open and running out.

He ran to the library, knowing it would be empty. Making sure Madam Pince couldn't see him, he raced into a small section nobody ever visited (there was way too much dust on the surrounding books for people to have been there), and collapsed. Pulling his knees up to his chin, he sat in fetal position and rocked back and forth, the encounter with the boggart darting back into his mind.

Suddenly, it was just too much, and Ed let the tears come. They flowed out of his eyes like they had never before. Seeing Al and Winry dead, and reliving the moment of failed transmutation… Ed cried for his friends, his homesickness, his stress, his situation, all of his _goddamn_ secrets pouring out of him in hot salty drops of water.

After a few minutes, Ed could see that someone was standing at then end of the aisle, watching him. Vision blurred by water, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, shook his head to clear it, and then opened them, standing to leave. Not pausing to see the person's identity, Ed pushed past whoever had seen him, and started walking away.

"Ed!" they called, following him. Ed quickened his pace.

"Ed wait!" called the voice again.

Ed broke into a run, racing out onto the grounds and throwing himself into one of the niches in the castle walls. His pursuer slowed, and walked steadily, most likely looking into every niche they passed. Ed didn't bother putting up a wall, he would be found anyway. Finally the footsteps stopped, and someone sat down next to them, their shoulder warm against his. Ed pulled his knees closer to him and stared straight ahead.

"Ed," the person said softly. Ed ignored them.

"Ed, look at me," his follower said imploringly.

Ed looked up and into Luna's face. She smiled at him, Ed returning it half-heartedly. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, gazing out at the lake.

Finally Ed spoke. "How'd you find me?"

Luna shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure. I knew you would probably be in the library, since it was the middle of class, and I just had to look in the sections nobody ever reads anything in. You're an alchemist, so I decided to check that aisle first. And there you were," she ended cheerfully.

Ed half-smiled. "And there I was." They were silent for another moment, before Ed asked, "Did they tell you?"

Luna nodded, staring at him thoughtfully. "Your friend Zaneh came to my classroom right after you left. Apparently she was franticly yelling at Ron –his sister and I are friends– and Professor Lupin to tell her where my class was, so I could help her find you. She would have come herself, but she looked a little off, so I told her I'd find you on my own."

Ed smiled briefly at Zaneh's friendship, glad to have paired up with her that first day. Turning his gaze back on Luna, he said, "I meant, did she tell you what happened. With the boggart."

Luna's normally distant face was grave. "Yes, Ed. She told me. But I don't really think any less of you because of how more significant your fears are than ours, and neither does Zaneh. None of your other real friends will either. Think of it as a test if you feel like it."

Ed sighed, again thankful for Zaneh and Luna's friendship. He felt particular warmth towards Luna, who was now getting up and brushing herself off.

"Come on Ed. We'd better get going. We're both going to get in trouble for this you know, seeing as we both abruptly left class like that. We may as well get to dinner on time," Luna smiled impishly.

Ed grinned. "Yeah. Hope they have pudding." He replied, naming Luna's favorite "normal" food.

--

--

--

_Meep! Tis me again! This would've come sooner, but my computer is being a bitch and quits Safari every time I try to access my FF profile. Hurray for loopholes!_

_--_

_I had a long rant/ disclaimer-y thing typed here, but it was rather silly, so I deleted it._

_--_

_oh, and btw, I'm not trying to start a Luna/Ed, I just like the friendship._

_--_

_Another Random Quote:_

_"If at first you don't succeed, find something else to fail at"_


	19. Closed Prying Minds

Chapter 19: The Torture of Tunnel Vision

--

**Chapter ****19****: Closed Prying Minds**

--

The pair raced to the Great Hall, and quickly sat down, before people had a chance to start staring at Ed. The few who noticed their entrance did, and people cycled in and out of "Staring at Ed suspiciously" rotations (or at least it seemed that way to Ed).

Surprisingly, Zaneh came over to the Ravenclaw table, and joined them and Jude during dinner. The four left the Hall laughing at some random joke Luna made about Malfoy.

That reminded Ed of the Slytherin's existence, and privately thought to himself, _So, THAT'S where all those small insults are coming from… I need to have a nice LONG talk with him one of these days._

When they passed Gryffindor Tower, Zaneh and Ed bid farewell to Luna, and entered the Common Room.

The entire room fell silent the moment Ed walked in. All the sixth years stared at him with narrowed eyes, and the younger ones gave him looks of terror spawned from exaggeration as the story was told. Ed raised his eyebrows, and gave a small snort of amusement.

"Is this the best you can do? You're trying to shun me, or pretending to fear me, and this is all you can conjure up? I'd expect a bunch of wizards would be able to do something grand and magical to make me feel insignificant and alone. Instead all I get is narrowed eyes, and rumors of what happens when I see a boggart. Come on, Gryffindors, isn't this supposed to be 'where dwell the brave at heart'?" Ed said, openly mocking them. Half the room started glancing at each other shame faced, while the Golden Trio openly stared at him in shock.

"I mean seriously, you guys are supposed to be the brave ones, and here you are making someone an outcast because their fears freak you out. Hell, you guys make outcasts for reasons as stupid as someone losing a lot of House points because they did something they thought was right. I bet you don't know the names of half the people in your year. How long have you been living with these people? Lots of years now? Come on, pull yourselves together and get your priorities straight."

With that miniature monologue, Ed backed out of the portrait hole, muttering something about training. If someone had looked out the window in the next five minutes, they'd have seen Ed practicing a strange mix of martial arts, and gymnastics. As it was, they only saw him afterwards when he came back in, cursing under his breath, stalking back up to the boys' dormitories and flexing his right shoulder in irritation.

Flopping onto his bed, he didn't bother undressing, but instead closed his eyes, waiting for the interrogation he would be receiving. Ed didn't have to wait long for the Golden Trio to pry; when everyone else was asleep, Harry and Ron were shaking him "awake".

Sitting up, he glared at the other two. "What?" the alchemist demanded thoroughly annoyed.

Harry held up his Invisibility Cloak, and beckoned towards the stairs. _We need to talk_, he mouthed.

Ed rolled his eyes, and swung off his bed, ignoring the Cloak being brandished at him, and stomping down the stairs as if to prove a point. No one else woke. The most reaction was Neville's snoring. The other two crept silently behind him, pulling off the Cloak once they reached the Common Room.

Ed flopped onto a chair, and looked around. The other two sank into chairs across from him. They sat for a while, and seemed to be waiting for something. Ed kept looking around in confusion, then realized what it was.

"Waiting for Hermione, are we?" he drawled, the temptation to make a crack at their expense very large, but deciding against it. The other two sat silently, not looking at him.

They waited for a minute, then heard a loud whispered argument taking place in the stairway to the girl's dorms.

"I'm not doing anything, I'm just going to the bathroom!"

"Hermione, I'm not stupid. If you're only doing that, then why were you sneaking around?"

"I didn't want to wake anyone, Zaneh!"

"Then why is it such a big deal that I come along?"

"Come on Chioke, just go back to bed!"

"No! You're going to do something idiotic, and I'm sick and tired of just watching you sneak out every bloody year! What the hell are you doing?"

Ed smiled at Zaneh's protests, body starting to shake with silent laughs as the argument grew closer and more drawn out.

"Fine! Come with me! I don't see why this is just _so_ important to you, but fine!"

Harry and Ron quickly disappeared under the cloak, and were motioning for Ed to join them (obviously trying to save face for Hermione) when the two girls walked into the Common Room.

"There! See? Nothing is going o- oh. Hi Ed," Hermione finished lamely, ignoring Zaneh's look of triumph.

"Hi Hermione. Harry and Ron are under the cloak in," Ed waved his hand around where the two had gone under the Cloak. "_that_ general area. Go ahead and come out guys. Your other third is here, so you can start with the interrogation now!" Ed called cheerfully.

The other guys revealed themselves, glaring at Ed.

"What? Interrogation? What the bloody hell are you guys doing?" Zaneh asked, outraged on Ed's behalf.

Ron rounded on her, face furious. "Look, ever since he got here, he's said nothing about who he is, or where he came from. Three strange people showed up with him, Harry says they were talking about something dangerous when they were walking to Gringotts, and-"

"Whoa!" Ed interrupted, turning to Harry. "You were listening to us? What the hell did you hear?"

Harry stood up, starting to shout on his own. "There you go! It's bullocks like that that makes you so suspicious! You're doing bloody strange shit none of us have ever seen before, crazy stuff is happening without any explanation from you, and –I'm sorry to bring this up- what that boggart turned into was just bloody _disturbing_, mate!"

"Well I'm sorry Harry, but if the Order doesn't trust you enough to let you in on already disclosed information, then I don't see why I should tell you anything either!" Ed bellowed back, in full confrontational mode.

"Would everyone _please_ STOP SHOUTING?" Hermione screamed.

The entire room turned to look at the usually quiet girl.

"Look, we've probably woken up the whole bloody House by now, so let's go to an empty classroom or something, then continue more calmly. How does that sound?" Hermione asked ferociously.

The room was silent.

"All right. Zaneh, you're staying here. It's already a stretch for three people to fit under the Cloak so-"

"Hang on a minute," Ed butted in, seeing a compromise. "I've been practicing Disillusionment Charms, I can cast it on Zaneh and I. It won't be as good as Harry's Cloak, but it'll be hard to see us in the dark."

Harry threw up his hands in exasperation. "Fine. Fine! Zaneh can come. Whatever. Let's just _go_ and get this over with."

The Trio disappeared under the Cloak, and the Portrait door opened seemingly on it's own and stayed ajar. Ed could see their feet, and decided to follow them that way.

Turning to Zaneh, Ed pulled his wand out of his robes, readying himself.

"I didn't know you were practicing Disillusionment Charms," Zaneh muttered.

"Since Snape gave us that essay about Invisibility, I've tried it a few times. Actually," Ed lowered his voice. "I'm utter crap at them. It should work pretty well since it's dark, but you're going to have to keep close to me in case we have to suddenly disappear."

With that, Ed tapped his wand on Zaneh's head, and she became the texture and gradients of the wall behind her. Ed quickly cast the charm on himself, and the two crept silently out the door, both still painfully visible.

Thankfully, the charm worked better with mimicking shadows, and so the pair crept unseen behind the Golden Trio, Ed following the pairs of feet in front of him.

Eventually, the group made their way to an empty classroom, and Harry threw off the Cloak while his other two thirds lit their wands, and Ed took off him and Zaneh's enchantment.

"Alright, we're here," Ed said, hopping onto a desk. "Shoot. What do you want to ask?"

The Trio glanced at each other, and Hermione began.

"Where are you from Ed?"

Ed snorted. "I've told you a million times before, I'm from the country of Amestris. If you want to get really specific, I'm from Resembool, a small town in the East."

"Who were the people who came with you when you came to buy your supplies?" she continued.

"I'm pretty sure I've at least told Harry already, and if he forgot, then that's his problem."

Hermione shot Harry a frustrated glare before continuing, looking as if she were trying to remember notes. "What's a state alchemist?"

"That would be military information, and cannot tell you anything about our military operations, as that would be a breach of security. Also, I have already answered that question for the Order, so if they didn't trust you enough, or find it important enough, to tell you, then I don't see why I should," Ed replied coolly getting fed up with them. "Are you done?"

Hermione was about to ask another question when Ron butted in. "That-that…._ thing_ that the boggart turned into. It was like a -like- like a pile of human remains. What was it?"

Ed's eyes narrowed, trying to both think of an excuse and a cover for his ambiguity. He decided on playing the "angry and offended" card.

"Why the hell does it matter what I'm afraid of? Those are fears, not realities. Maybe I'm just afraid of blood, or of death? Do specifics matter?"

Harry put a hand on Ed's shoulder, and the alchemist realized he was shouting.

"Look mate, I understand. That was stupid to ask, I'm sorry. Just please, don't let the whole castle know we're out here, alright?"

Ed shrugged, crossing his arms, and entering into a brief sulk, feeling warmer towards Harry than he had in ages. "Well, now what? Anything else? Mind you, I've already been put under Veritaserum by the Order and questioned, so I'm not sure what else you want to know."

The Trio looked at each other, obviously confused, and began conferencing with themselves. Zaneh however, came over to Ed, concern reading over her face.

"Veritaserum? Ed, that's serious. People only use that for heavy interrogations. And having Order members question you themselves? Do they think you're some kind of terrorist or something?" Zaneh asked, worried.

Ed laughed. "No they don't think I'm a terrorist. They just wanted to know if I could help them more than anything, though I highly doubt I'll be doing much to help them. Also, they gave me a diluted dose, so I wasn't forced to elaborate, but still couldn't lie. It's fine."

Zaneh relaxed, and was about to ask more, but the Golden Trio came out of their little meeting. Harry stepped forward.

"Okay Ed, turns out this was all a bit unnecessary. Sorry to bother you. Let's head back."

The groups went back to the Tower, then heading to bed.

_That last bit was definitely forced_, Ed contemplated, assessing the night. _I could tell Ron wasn't okay with that move, and they obviously have more to ask. I could tell Harry and Hermione were a bit pissed at Ron's little outburst, since they probably would've ended up asking me more if he hadn't done that. Shit… I wonder what Harry heard. I really don't want anyone involved in what's happening in Amestris, and I _definitely_ don't want them to know about Al. This is not good._

As Ed continued to contemplate and analyze the night's events, the last thought Ed had before sleep hit him was: _I seriously need to start training more._

_--_

_--_

_--_

_--_

_--_

_--_

_--_

_Hey, did y'all catch how Neville's fear changed last chapter? It's a lot more substantial of a fear now, right? Right?_

…_maybe I was too subtle with that…damn inconspicuous details…no one ever notices them…_

_--_

_"If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried"_

–_my friend Calli (after I told her the original "screw you!" version)_


	20. New Discoveries

--

**Chapter 2****0****: New Discoveries**

--

After Ed's ranting session the previous night, hardly any of the Gryffindors would even look at him. Ed took it all in stride, as he really didn't care too much for many of them anyway. He'd had worse from people who hated the military. The only Gryffindors that even talked to him anymore were Zaneh, Hermione, sometimes Neville, and surprisingly Harry. Though Ed didn't exactly treasure his time spent with the "Boy Who Lived", he was glad that someone else knew what it was like to be alone for something totally stupid.

Once, after yet another self absorbed Gryffindor walked away from him with their nose turned up, Hermione wondered aloud, "How do you deal with all this? It's worse than when people go on Harry-hating rampages."

Ed smiled grimly. "When you've been a 'dog of the military' for almost four years, this stuff doesn't really faze you. At least before, the people had a good reason for their hatred. Compared to that, this massive sulk session is just lame."

Hermione was about to ask what he meant before being cut off when Ed gave her his trademark sarcastic grin.

"Besides," he continued, "All those losers that ran away aren't going to be able to cheat off me anymore."

Hermione grinned. "I guess every cloud has some sort of colorful lining."

Ed stared at her for a second, then laughed. Hermione joined in and they laughed together at her pathetic excuse for a joke. When they got over their stress-induced hysteria, Ed grabbed her arm, and half ran/half pulled her down to breakfast.

Besides the occasional bright patch such as the exchange of laughter, Ed's days grew darker, little by little. People hated him again, he missed Amestris, and he wasn't learning anything about how to help Al.

After another afternoon of fruitless research, Ed was getting desperate.

_I've been here for months, but __**still**__ nothing on human transmutation, __**OR**__ blood seals. This really sucks. The most I've managed to find out is that Harry destroyed a Philosopher's Stone five years ago, and that the Sorting Hat has a blood seal…Wait._

Ed's mind processed what he'd just been reviewing. He promptly hit himself on the head with the book he was holding.

"Idiot!" he cried, and dropping his book, he raced off to find Harry.

The Golden Trio had hit one of their monthly internal wars a few days before they'd tried to interrogate Ed, and their brief "bonding together" moment had crashed and died once Ron had asked about the boggart. Separated into sides again, Ed wasn't sure he would be able to get the questions he wanted answered out of sheer spite (mostly from Ron).

Harry happened to be in one of his free periods at the moment, and was sitting alone in the Common Room eating Chocolate Frogs, when Ed raced in, stuff flying behind him.

"Harryharryharryharryharry!" yelled Ed, frantic in his quest for answers and thankful that Ron was not present.

Harry whirled around and was face to face with a panting Ed.

"Ed, what's wrong? You okay?" asked Harry, slightly concerned for his friend. Ed shook his head, and stretched up to face Harry, eyes filled with excitement.

"No time to talk! Harry, in your first year, you destroyed the Philosopher's Stone right?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Voldemort was going to use it to grant him immortality and-"

"Don't care," Ed interrupted. "What I need to know is, who made it, how did they do it, and where did you find this stuff out?"

Harry blinked. He wasn't expecting the sudden interest in the Philosopher's Stone. "It was made by a man named Nicholas Flamel, Dumbledore worked closely with him on developing it, and the rest you should ask Hermione. She's the one who found all this stuff out in a boo-hey, where're you going?" yelled Harry, as Ed took off running.

"Thanks a lot Harry, but I need to find Hermione now!"

_The library, she'll be at the library. Hermione's almost as big of a nerd as me, so she'll obviously be there doing her work while everyone else rests and hangs out._

Ed charged into the library, ignoring Madam Pince's reproaches. Scanning the aisles, he saw the one that contained the person he wanted, and collapsed next to her. Hermione instantly whirled around.

"Ed! You startled me!" Hermione exclaimed. Ed was sitting in front of her, panting and sweaty. Hermione took advantage of the time Ed spent catching his breath to stare at him. Just as she was starting to get all tingly, Ed made direct eye contact with her, and captured her. She would've drowned in his gaze if not for the fact that the excited look in his eyes had obviously had nothing to do with her.

"Hermione… pant…I…I need…to find out… pant …where…the book…about the…Philosopher's Stone is. Where did you find out information about it and Nicholas Flamel…pants some more …your first year? Please show me," Ed got out weakly, gasping for air.

Hermione, very pink faced, stood and started to lead him down the aisles until she came to an aisle commonly exercised for research purposes. Examining the titles along the shelves, Hermione pulled out an old, rather large volume with a thin layer of dust on it. Wiping the dust off, Hermione opened the book to the part where she'd found information on the mysterious "Nicholas Flamel", all those years ago.

Ed took the tome with reverence, and without so much as a slight wave, or a nod of thanks, he began to read. Hermione stayed for a while, but then recognized that he just needed to read and would thank her later, so she left.

Meanwhile Ed read on and on about Flamel, how he created his stone, and where to find him. After 2 hours worth of reading, Ed slammed the book shut with a name, an address, and not much else.

_I doubt that he actually just used a tricky enchantment and some rare substances and created a Philosopher's Stone just based on that. If he did, I'm going to find out the exact method he used, and create one. Otherwise, he either made a fake, or he killed people. Now onto information gathering round two. Guess I'll just have to skip Herbology today._

Ed hurried along the halls to the Headmaster's office. Vaulting over the gargoyle in a tricky martial arts movement, Ed raced up the stairs by foot, knowing that the escalator mode wouldn't come on unless he gave a password. When he reached the office, Ed checked to see if there was anyone inside. The only living thing in there was Fawkes, and as he was just a phoenix, Ed walked inside.

There was the Sorting Hat, lying on a shelf innocently. Grabbing the Hat, Ed jammed it onto his head, and demanded, _All right, where's your blood seal?_

_**My what?**_

_Don't play dumb, I know what you are, and I know how to destroy you. Hell, you admitted it when we met, so don't try lying to me._

_**Fine, so I AM a soul trapped within a hat. But I am an enchanted soul and-**_

_Yeah, yeah, whatever. I __**do**__ eventually want to know who you are, but right now I just need to know if they made you the same way I made my brother._

_**Well, how did you make your brother, Edward?**_

_Haha, you __**know**__ how. Even if you don't, I'm flash backing it right now, so hurry up and tell me if you're made the same way._

_**Hmm…well you're right Edward. I am made the exact same way as your brother. By the way, I am the soul of the world's greatest Legillimens, so don't bother blocking off your mind. Not only am I that soul, I also have enchantments on me to strengthen that power, so just open up. It'll make this easier.**_

_Well if you know all this stuff, then you can answer my questions, yes?_

_**Yes I can. Are you sure you want to know the answers though? Because you may not like them**_

_Yes, I'm sure. Tell me!_

_**Well about the Philosopher's Stone, it in fact WAS made the way that is so dreaded by you. But instead of live humans, Flamel used his own energy and blood, as well as blood drained from patients at St. Mungo's. As the defective blood was pulled from a person's body to be replenished with new blood, Flamel felt no guilt. Now, this blood had to be removed because it was tainted with many magical diseases, enhancing it's magical quality. This make the Stone work as if several humans had been sacrificed.**_

Ed nodded from inside the Hat, processing this. He'd known Flamel was already dead from his previous library scouring.

_What about my brother?_

There was a long pause. Finally the Hat began again.

_**Edward, your brother can be restored, but for most wizards the enchantment takes several decades to learn how to do. This is because the enchantment allows the caster and the soul to enter the Gate, and take back what was lost. However, most casters normally die in the attempt, as they have not provided a large enough passage fee. The enchantment allows the bound soul to enter without a fee, but the caster still has to pay one. I told you, you wouldn't like it.**_

Ed thought for a moment, then yelled into the Hat's interior (with both voice and mind)

"What's the enchantment and how long will _I_ take to learn it?"

_**The book containing it is called "True Knowledge" and is in the Restricted Section. You're going to have to find a good excuse for getting the book. Also the title is actually the formula for opening the Gate, so most people just pass it by. The book should tell you how long the enchantment would take you to learn, by the level of understanding you have of what the book is telling you. You might want to make yourself scarce soon, the Headmaster is coming up the stairs, **_ended the Hat, obviously amused. Ed yanked the Hat off his head and put it back on the shelf that he'd found it on. Finding no good corner to hide in, Ed leaned into a hollow in the wall, and transmuted a wall in front to find himself.

Dumbledore opened the door of the office, walked through, and straight into a smaller room that opened up onto the upper tier. Ed took advantage of the small window of time to leave the office and flee to the Gryffindor Common Room.

--

--

--

--

_Hurray for finally having some crap make sense!! Plot structure joy!!_

_--_

_Okay, um, I'm having a bit of a dilemma, as I have a huge gap in this story. A hole, an unused space of time that you will notice when I pass over it in later chapters. I am talking, my readers, about All Hallows Eve, more commonly known as, Halloween._

_I don't have anything planned for it!! I have stuff for the winter break, some notes for exams, but nothing for Halloween!!  
(well technically I had a storyline but it was craptastic and not going anywhere, so it's dead, buried, forgotten, and off limits for questioning)_

_Anyways, long story short, I need help. Ideas are welcome, and my favorites shall be warped and convoluted to suit my own ends. Please help me  
_

_--_

_"If at first you don't succeed, start obsessing over someone who has."_


End file.
